Tedium in Blue
by Ladyghoul1
Summary: The monotony of routine, as familiar and predictable as the ebb and flow of the sea. An expanse of blue, wide and endless and vast. Red eyes do not turn purple within the blue. A Bakugou x Reader Merman! AU Notes: Reader will be gender neutral throughout the story Cover image is by Lawv-no on Tumblr!
1. Chapter 1

The view beyond the pier was quiet aside from the crashing of gentle waves, the tide ebbing and flowing against the worn down wooden supports jutting out into the salty water. Most people had left by this point, heading back home to fix dinner or rest before the start of the next day. But you often remained behind after sunset, the easy sound of water a calming respite at the end of the day. Living on the coast had its perks outside of fresh seafood whenever the craving hit you.

Your feet dangled above the surface of the cool teal water, too dark to see beyond the vague silhouettes of small fish darting around as if in a perpetual game of Tag. A light splash echoed in your ears, making you look up and out onto the soft glistening ocean reflecting the warm spectrum of colors from the setting sun behind it like a palette of undisturbed paint. Nothing caught your eye, though. The water was still, no movement aside from the gentle salty air and occasional seagull flying overhead. Periodically you'd see dolphins or whales far out on the horizon, but during this time of year they often migrated to different waters.

There it was again, another splash. But you still couldn't see where it was coming from. You were pretty much alone on the beach, forgotten towels and litter the only remaining evidence of people. It always annoyed you that tourists would leave trash out on the beach making it look dirty, not to mention thinking of debris that inevitably ended up in the ocean for fish to eat or get caught in - so irresponsible.

Something finally caught your eye out on the flat expanse of water - indistinguishable in the darkness, but something definitely alive. You took your binoculars out of your bag to get a better look, keeping them around to capture anything that caught your eye out farther than the naked eye could easily see. As you tried to get a better look, the shape disappeared back under the water as quickly as it surfaced.

Well this seemed like a game you might not win, whatever it was having the hidden expanse of water on their side, but you stuck around for another few minutes hoping to steal another glance before finally heading home.

While you focused your vision out onto the water, you were completely unaware that a set of piercing eyes was watching you, analyzing you.

With a sigh you grabbed your things and turned around with one last look at the ocean.

"Hmm…I'll come back tomorrow if the weather is nice. Stick around, mysterious thing, so we can finish this game you've started." With that, you turned your back on the comforting sounds of waves and headed into the darkness back home, vigilant eyes watching you before disappearing with the smallest of splashes.


	2. Chapter 2

Your footsteps muffled softly in the dry sand of the beach, grittiness sinking between your toes as you walked your way down to the pier, the sun setting far in the distance. Despite living on the coast for nearly a year now, you never got tired of the view, the smells, the sounds…it all felt like home, even though you grew up nowhere near the ocean.

Stopping in front of a small food stand the man behind the counter greeted you like he always did. "Yo! The usual?" You nodded.

"Yeah, same old same old," you said, fishing out your wallet from your backpack. "I'm a creature of habit, I guess."

"Ah nothing wrong with that, with familiarity brings comfort, right?" He could easily talk and cook at the same time, many years of multitasking practice under his belt.

Your eyes scanned across the beach, abandoned umbrellas and fallen sandcastles conquered by moats of salty water and clumsy footsteps disturbing the otherwise flat expanse. "I guess…but sometimes I want excitement, too. Something to upset the monotony…just a little." The kind food vendor set your snack down on the counter, his eyes old with age and experience.

"Trust me, not all surprises are good ones." With that you waved goodbye, continuing on your walk to the pier.

Most of the remaining people on the beach were at the other end, away from the pier and closer to the road where newly-built and overly-expensive condos sprang up seemingly overnight. They were an eyesore, honestly, but nothing you could do about it. Your small apartment about a kilometer away suited you just fine.

Your feet dangled over the edge, the snack in one hand and phone in the other. Someone from work was bugging you to hang out, but you weren't particularly interested. Their idea of a good time was a loud club and an overabundance of cheap alcohol. You? A quiet night inside with a movie that never got old, maybe some video games or the occasional cooking experiment. That's why the ocean was so nice: the sounds it made were natural, predictable, and comforting. Also, free.

Suddenly something touched your bare foot, making you flinch. "Wh-?" Your feet were at least two feet above the water, and the waves weren't particularly rowdy today, so…? The touch didn't last long enough for you to determine what it was, but it didn't really feel like a rogue splash of water. You shrugged it off, taking another bite of your snack, thinking it was all in your-

"The hell?" OK, something _definitely_ touched you that time. You pulled both your feet up onto the pier, got on your hands and knees – carefully holding onto your food, of course – and bent your head over the edge to see what could possibly have touched you.

Something dove under the water quickly, a small splash disturbing surface tension. It was starting to get dark now, so visibility underneath the waterlogged wooden beams hidden from the remaining light of the sunset was poor. Your eyes scanned the murky water, and…there! Something, uh…big? It looked big…but weren't you too close to the coast for a dolphin or-

Suddenly your eyes were filled with the color red, and you screamed.

"Ah fuck! The hell was that?!" You scrambled back up the pier, your breathing ragged as you tried to process what you just saw in the darkness of the shifting water.

…Eyes? Like, human-ish eyes?! No way, couldn't be. Your head turned to the side, looking out for anyone who might be playing a prank. But there was no one, only the sounds of seagulls and the smell of salt and raw fish. Luckily your phone just barely missed toppling over the side when you flung yourself back in a panic. Grabbing it you turned on the flashlight and slowly made your way back over the side of the pier.

Darkness, nothing. The occasional silhouette of darting fish and floating seaweed. You could feel your heart slamming against your chest, prone on the soggy wood of the pier. You probably looked like a moron to anyone that came by, honestly. The light of your phone finally glimmered against something in the water…something red, catching the light and reflecting it back like a mirror. No, two red somethings, about fifteen feet away. You blinked, and they were gone. But where -

Before you could even react something popped out of the water right below you making you jump. A face. A very…pretty face. Fucking beautiful face in fact, ethereal even. You could feel heat pooling in your cheeks looking at the bizarre man bobbing in the water below you. His hair was pale blonde and messy but framed his strong jaw well. His piercing red eyes burned into you like fire seeping down all the way to your toes.

You swallowed thickly before speaking. "Uh…hello? You the weirdo playing pranks on me?" Was there just a hot guy swimming around under the pier waiting for people to pass by? He didn't answer, only cocked his head to the side like a curious puppy. The attractiveness of his face was marred only slightly by his heavily furrowed brows and…were those…fins? On his ears? "Are you like…doing a super intense mermaid cosplay? Because you win, my dude."

He rose up slightly out of the water, revealing he was shirtless, the rest of his body unseen disappearing into the darkness. He also had some odd markings on his shoulders, maybe a tattoo that looked like scales? Alright, this was officially in weird-o territory even if he _was_ hot. "Uh, if you're mute, just…gesture? Sign? Can you hear me at all?" Your arms came forward signaling to your face, ears, something. Maybe he needed help, but wasn't sure how to tell you?

The bizarre man just looked at you with a scowl before disappearing back under the water. After a second he popped back out and promptly spat salty water in your face.

"AGH, the fuck dude?!" you said, spitting and wiping off the water on the sleeve of your jacket. A voice finally interrupted your own. A hearty laugh, in fact, raspy and deep and enticing. "Oh so that's…oh my god."

Your mouth hung slack and open as the man below you laughed, a large orange and black fish tail slapping against the water. Also, the tail was attached to him. As in, you know.

Like a fucking mermaid.


	3. Chapter 3

The jarring shock of seeing a literal fishman with your own eyes distracted you from the fact that your phone slipped from your shaking hands.

"Wh- oh SHIT NO!" Your fingertips glanced off the plastic case as it fell towards the water. But right before it was lost to the salty depths under the pier, the merman reached forward and caught it easily.

His hands were now visible to you, a thin membrane of webbing connecting each finger, small claws replacing normal human fingernails. His tail was long and strong, ending in a fin similar to a shale or dolphin's, though far more extravagant and elegant. Delicate fins adorned the sides of the tail not unlike silk as they moved effortlessly in the water. His scales were various shades of orange dotted with flecks of shimmering gold and black as the tail wound up his body and ended around his waist as he transformed into a mostly human-looking man. Your brain was firing at rapid speeds in an attempt to process a hundred unanswered questions at once: _were you dreaming? Was this some excessively elaborate prank put on by some Youtubers trying to humiliate an unsuspecting onlooker with a professional actor? Was he related to the Loch Ness Monster? Has he ever interacted with people before? Why did he have nipples since fish aren't mammals? Why was a man with a fish tail more attractive than ninety-nine percent of the normal people you saw on a daily basis?_ But you shook your head free of bizarre questions to focus on the task at hand, even if it was a dream: getting your phone back.

The merman held the phone in his webbed hands, turning it around and peering at it suspiciously, holding it up to his nose to smell it. He scrunched up his face in apparent disgust at whatever it smelled like, holding it away from him like something diseased. You waved your arms frantically below you to get his attention before he dropped it casually into the water.

"H-hey! Uh…please give that back? Shit, you probably…don't know words. Uh…" He looked at you curiously, holding the phone inches above the water. You pointed towards the phone in his hand, then back to you. You repeated the action, his red eyes following your motions. One clawed finger pointed at the phone, then back to you in some sort of confirmation - you nodded.

A wicked smirk appeared on his face revealing fanged teeth as he pretended to drop the phone into the water.

"No! No, please don't!" You growled out with the realization that he was aware you wanted the device back - but he wouldn't hand it over easily. "How do I reason with a merman? I was not prepared for this today…" You sighed out with exasperated frustration. Just then you remembered the vendor food in your hand. Of course you'd hang on to food and not your phone…typical. But maybe you could make a wager.

You dangled the hashimaki over the water, watching him carefully as his red eyes tracked your hand like a predator assessing a threat. He swam easily towards the food, nose turned upwards sniffing the salty air. His eyes widened - apparently it smelled better than your phone - his empty hand reaching up out of the water towards the food. But you pulled it away at the last second.

He growled, bearing his sharp teeth at you, the blonde hair on the back of his neck standing on end. As attractive as he was, the angry look on his face was honestly a bit scary…but you had to see this plan through. You pointed towards your phone, then back at yourself; then from the hashimaki back to him. His scowl subsided only slightly as he followed your hand back and forth. You slowly lowered the food back down towards the water, hoping that he understood what you were after as you held out your other free hand for the phone.

Red eyes narrowed as he swam back towards you, suspicious that you'd take the food away at the last second again. The fingers of your free hand wiggled expectantly, pointing again at your phone. Raising up out of the water he finally held out the device to you, your fingers brushing against his webbed hand as he set it down in your palm before quickly snatching the hashimaki out of your hand and retreating back to a safe distance.

Glad to finally have your phone back you set it on the pier before watching curiously as he sniffed again at the snack before poking a tongue out to taste it. After a second his fanged mouth opened wide to shove nearly all of it in his mouth at once, ignoring the etiquette of chewing in favor of nearly swallowing it whole, making you laugh. He looked at you with a low growl before promptly disappearing underneath the water's surface.

"Agh shit…I have so many questions! That you probably can't answer vocally!" Your eyes scanned across the dark water, but the sun was long gone, the streetlamps and moon your main sources of light now. There was no movement aside from the shifting ebb and flow of water against the creaky wooden pillars of the pier.

You'd just seen a REAL MERMAN and now he was gone…you didn't even snap a picture first. Groaning you waited around for a few more minutes before letting out a heavy sigh. Before you stood up to leave, however, a loud splash echoed off to your left. Shifting your eyes to the side your vision was clouded with the sight of the merman leaning casually on the edge of the pier, his arms folded on the damp wood holding him up out of the water as he peered at you curiously. Despite the lack of light, the scales on his shoulders and arms shimmered brilliantly like stardust. You ducked your head under the pier quickly to see he was, indeed, dangling out of the water, the tip of his tail splashing back and forth against the surface. Well, with arm muscles like that you supposed he would have good upper body strength.

Still laying on your stomach you slowly crawled towards him - not too close to touch, but close enough to get a better look at what you could only describe as a mythical creature. He watched your movement with sharp eyes, his own curiosity mirrored back at you. You noticed the clean hashimaki stick laying next to him - apparently he hated littering on the beach, too.

It took your breath away how beautiful he really was up close. Even with all the weird fish parts, the human areas of him were…conventionally gorgeous. You chuckled lightly to yourself, thinking back to stories of fantasy and fairy tales. "Never thought I'd come face-to-face with a legend…are there more like you, or is it a tragic tale of loneliness?" you wondered aloud, his glistening eyes watching the movements of your lips making your face feel warm. A webbed hand reached out slowly towards one of your own. You mirrored his movements, fingers hovering over the weather-worn wood of the pier. When your fingers touched his, a spark went down your spine all the way down to your toes making your breath hitch in your throat.

His skin was cool to the touch and lightly textured like high grit sandpaper. Fingers wove in and out experimentally between your own, curious at the lack of webbing. He seemed surprisingly comfortable with being this close to you, so you had to imagine he'd come in contact with humans previously, or at least didn't see you as a threat. While you focused on his imaginary backstory, a claw trailed delicately down to your wrist, a wet finger pressing on your pulse point feeling your heart beat through your skin. The calm of the moment was broken when his head snapped to the side, the curious look on his face replaced with a scowl as he let go of your hand, suddenly sliding back and dropping back into the water with a splash.

A blinding light flitted across your face from down on the pier. An officer on patrol across the beach spotted you, the lone civilian, splayed out on the pier. Questioning your intentions, you quickly muttered out a lie that you came out to relax but fell asleep on accident. He ushered you up, saying you shouldn't be out alone, it's too dark, blah blah blah. Reluctantly you gathered up your things and followed the officer down the pier back towards the beach. Turning your head one last time towards the water, a speck of blonde hair bobbed just above the surface, red eyes watching you leave. You gave a small wave behind your back, wondering if the gesture for "see you later" was universal.


	4. Chapter 4

Your keys fumbled against the lock to your apartment, rushing home once the officer escorted you away from the beach. Right now your heart and mind were racing as you tossed off your shoes and dropped your backpack on the couch before grabbing up your laptop. Normally a respite from the anxiety and outside stresses the world often presented, your apartment was simply decorated but inviting. The media center standing against the off-white wall next to the TV held dusty books, unplayed video games, and movies worn out from overuse. However the calm of your home was invaded by racing thoughts and questioning possibilities. You were still trying to comprehend the very real prospect that you'd encountered something only told of in childrens' stories. The voice in the back of your head told you he was just a trick of the ocean, an illusion created by the tug of your own want for some kind of companionship. He couldn't be real.

But the buzz of electric static from his touch still lingered on your skin.

The curious stare of red eyes built from rubies made your pulse race.

You weren't delusional or crazy, but things like this never happened to you: a life of routine and monotony, day in and day out. Get up, go to work. Unwind at the beach. Go home…rinse and repeat. Maybe the occasional hiccup along the way, but otherwise you knew where you were going and why at any given moment.

But something like…this? Unexplained adventure? A chance meeting of a lifetime? Maybe you'd wake up tomorrow realizing this was all a bizarre lucid dream. But until then you had work to do.

You spent the next several hours researching any and all variations of "mermaid" and "merman" and "merpeople" to see if any researched and documented sightings existed…and every single search turned up dry. Pages filled with Bigfoot sightings, the Loch Ness monster, devils, spirits, and all other manner of mythical creatures told only in legends popped up in the search engine leading to blogs written by conspiracy theorists and people with no credibility whatsoever. Doctored photos and false sightings, a string of hopeless leads ultimately made you slam your laptop shut in frustration, a heavy sigh leaving your lips.

You remembered as a child watching cartoons with mermaids, depicting hidden civilizations of unknowns lurking at the depths no human could reach. Always beautiful, the mermaids were often adorned in seashells and starfish that looked gathered up from a tourist trap. Fish and other creatures of the ocean accompanied the merpeople on adventures, though the curiosity of human interaction pulled the simple plotline together as two strangers from different worlds met, enamored by the secrets of the other. Now your life was playing like a child's bedtime story…you were honestly hoping some adventure might fall in your lap, something to break the in and out of familiarity. But this was far from what you had in mind.

"God…I cannot seriously be the only person in the world to see a merperson, right?" The soft patter of feet made your head turn, the eyes of your sleepy cat staring at you expectantly. "I'm guessing you want dinner, huh? Alright, alright princess." She meowed as if in response as you set your computer aside to fix yourself some leftovers and opened a fresh can of food for your only other companion in the apartment.

You had an overwhelming urge to tell someone - anyone! - about your experience…but you knew you couldn't. No one would believe you without pictures or video. Besides, you'd seen too many sci-fi movies and horror stories of captured creatures sent off for torture and experiments; if any news outlet got wind there were merpeople, they'd send out dive teams to search for them, and you couldn't let that happen. The human nature for curiosity and knowledge led too many times to the ultimate demise of many a species. Even the idea of seeing the merman in pain, on a cold slab, scientists poking and prodding at him like…no, just entertaining the thought made your stomach churn.

But…what about the other possibility? You were familiar enough with the folklore of water spirits and shape-shifters, transforming into someone beautiful and enticing…only for them to drag their victim underwater never to be seen again. However, the merman you encountered had plenty of opportunities to grab you by the foot or hand, yanking you off the pier and into the cold depths below. He didn't, though; he only ate your food and spat water in your face. It seemed more like innocent curiosity and boredom that drove him to play tricks on you, the echo of his laugh still ringing in your ears. You shook your head, willing away the seductive pull of his stare embedded in your memory.

Eventually you made your way into bed, the ceiling fan circulating the cool air of the room, a hum in the stillness. Eyes heavy with sleep adjusted to the darkness of your bedroom, the familiar weight of your cat purring at your feet above the sheets. Familiar and mundane. Routine. Unextraordinary. Only darkness as you drifted off to sleep.

You rarely dreamed, but this night proved abnormal even when safely tucked in bed.

The strong scent of salt and fish filled your nose, vision clouded and murky. Something surrounded you, captured you in a cold embrace and refused to yield - water, you were underwater, an open expanse of blue. Finally your vision returned, though it made you feel uneasy.

Nothing below or above you but the solid immensity of nothingness, a crushing heartache of alienation filling your lungs as you drowned under its weight, sinking down, down, down.

The echo in your ears of loneliness made you cry out, but no sound escaped through the density of blue. Your hands clawed at a vacuum, the bubbles of movement floating opposite your descent into the unknown. Unexpectedly something grabbed your wrist, your pulse alive and rhythmic against the grip. The touch was enticing and comforting and tangible but your eyes were too clouded with the possibility of false hope for you to see what it was.

Suddenly your eyes were filled with the glisten of rubies, and you woke up.

A gasp issued from your dry throat, the heave of your chest wrapped in the constraint of sweat-drenched sheets. The jolt in movement made your cat flit from the bed. Feeling both the cold stick of sweat and the warmth of fever, you hopped from bed and begrudgingly made your way to the bathroom to wash your face.

You sighed, looking in the mirror at your tired eyes as they adjusted to the harsh fluorescent light. It was just a dream, you were fine; but you didn't really feel like going back to sleep despite the late hour and call of work in the morning.

Walking into the kitchen you made your favorite kind of tea. The smell often calmed you, the throbbing of blood-flow warm and quick under your skin. The ocean was normally a comfort, the smells and sounds that flitted across your senses, the vastness wide and beautiful in comparison to your own life: condensed, a terrarium of monotony.

Even if the merman on your mind did turn out to be just a dream, it didn't matter. The idea that something mysterious was out there was exhilarating, and for once you were excited for the possibility of adventure on the horizon of the sea, a speck of red amongst the blue.

Thank you for reading!

if you enjoy the story please favorite and comment!


	5. Chapter 5

Gentle sunlight streamed in through the thin curtains of the living room as your phone buzzed loudly against the wooden side table. You woke with a snort, a dried sliver of drool crusty on your chin. Falling asleep on the couch was not a good idea, but the tea from last night calmed you down enough to drift back to sleep against the old stained cushions. You didn't dream again.

Thoughts of the previous day flitted across your vision as you readied yourself for work; however, until you could make it back out to the ocean this afternoon, the familiarity and responsibility of routine called out to you. Bills needed to be paid, after all.

As you rode the train to work, flecks of red, gold, and blue captured your attention like a moth to the flame: A red shirt. Gold earrings. Deep blue backpack. The colors were jarring as you recalled images of your bizarre dream, trapped in an endless expanse of ocean, helpless against the current of gravity as it pulled you down.

The darkness surrounding you splintered against an invasion of red.

Work was dull and typical. It wasn't your dream job by any means, but the paycheck was decent enough for you to scrimp and save to put down a deposit on a nicer place at some point in the future. A voice behind you interrupted your train of thought, mind wandering to the salty familiarity of the ocean coupled with possible hidden treasures in the form of merpeople.

"Hey! You doin' alright? Seem kinda out of it today." It was one of your coworkers. The two of you weren't exactly friends, but the closeness of your desks had you communicating just because of proximity. Not that they were rude or anything, but sometimes they were...nosy, the boredom and monotony of work giving them an excuse for a minute of chatter.

You looked up from your paperwork, plastering on an inviting smile.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just sort of out of it today, ya know? We all have those days." Indeed, some were tougher to get through than others, but wasn't that true of most jobs? Was anyone truly happy day-in and day-out for eternity doing the same thing? If so, you'd never met them.

Laughing in a way that seemed suspiciously fake, your coworker nodded in response. "Aint that right!" They continued to pepper you with distracting conversation until your boss passed by, eyes glancing quickly over them; coughing, they returned to their desk with a huff. The rest of day was far more silent.

Before heading back to the beach, you grabbed the bus back home, wanting to change into more comfortable clothes. After changing, you passed by the mirror near the front door, giving yourself a once over. You spent an extra minute fixing your hair up a bit before catching yourself, cheeks heating up at the idea of trying to make yourself slightly more presentable for what was probably an average routine, an unextraordinary evening out on the pier. Just another day...right?

The beach was closer to your apartment in comparison to work, so you normally walked straight there from your home. Passing by the food vendor you grabbed two snacks this time, taking one in each hand before heading over to the pier.

It was a bit earlier in the day, the sun resting just above the cross-section of ocean and sky, a reflection of glitter sprinkled on the shifting water. Taking off your shoes, your feet dangled once more over the edge of the pier, eyes scanning and ears listening for any sign of movement against the water; an unexpected splash, something to signal the presence of something – or someone – close by.

One of the hashimaki sat in a cardboard bowl as you held the other one to your mouth, the smell of grilled octopus and cabbage mixing with the salty scent of fresh sea water and damp wood. Turning around, your eyes scanned behind you and along the beach for anyone close by; someone who might disturb any... _visitors_ who might not want to be seen otherwise. Luckily it was the middle of the week; the weekends often drew in loud families and adventurous swimmers leaving the remaining days fairly desserted.

A small splash below you caught your attention, drawing your eyes down over the side of the pier into the murky water. The glare of red eyes unnerved by the water mirrored your own stare. Your throat went dry as you struggled to swallow the bite of food in your mouth. He was just as strikingly beautiful as you remembered.

"Holy shit...so I wasn't dreaming. You're real, and I'm not a crazy person." His pale blonde hair turned light teal under the water as he lifted up slightly to look at you. Eyes of fire shifted quickly, however, to the food in your hand, growing wide as he seemed to recognize the snack you fed him the previous day. "Oh, you hungry? Well you're in luck, because I got an extra one just in case."

Nose sniffing in the air, he swam closer, one cool webbed hand lifting out of the water to close down on your bare foot making you jump. You bit the inside of your cheek as his finger shifted on your skin; you were ticklish on your feet and silently hoped he did not know what 'tickling' was. Grabbing the other snack, you leaned down and held it out to him, nodding at him with a smile that it was safe to take. Never letting go of your foot, he snatched it with his other hand before sniffing at it to confirm that it was indeed the same as the previous day before shoving the whole thing in his mouth again, fangs glittering under his lips. He didn't eat like a human, that was for sure, chewing with his mouth open, jaw moving rapidly, food flying out of his mouth that he quickly picked up from the water. He didn't leave a single speck to waste.

You shifted as his other hand moved against your foot, apparently enamored by your toes though his attention was elsewhere. Finally, you laughed, covering your mouth quickly. Swallowing the remainder of his food slowly, his eyes flitted up to you.

"O-oh uh, I'm not laughing at you! Though, how you eat is kinda ridiculous...pfft! Haha! Shit!" Toes curled around his fingers by reflex, the clean hashimaki stick jutting out of his mouth as he looked from your flushed face down to your feet and back again. His other hand now free, both sets of webbed fingers massaged into the skin of your feet experimentally; red eyes never left your face.

On reflex you tried to bring your other leg up to protect it from the onslaught of tickling, but he was quick. He grabbed you by the ankle, one foot now in each hand. Your eyes were watering from trying to hold back your laughter, struggling to free yourself from his grip, but the muscles in his arms proved useful for something other than just propelling him effortlessly through the water. His fingers drifted over your skin, the slight tug of textured skin leaving behind a pathway of memory as he grazed over your bones, muscles, tissue. A finger found it's way between a couple of toes, wiggling in the space, your muscles reactionary as they curled around him like an embrace. He smirked at the look on your face, realizing what he was doing could provide some interesting entertainment. God, that smirk suited him well, too.

"Haha n-no, no more!" Shaking your head from side to side, you gasped as you felt one clawed hand drift up past your foot to your ankle. His touch was light but firm, a thumb caressing over the joint. A voice in the back of your head whispered, " _What the hell since when has touching feet felt so intimate?"_

Before this got out of hand, you managed to yank one of your feet back onto the pier, the merman below you gaping at the sudden denial of your foot before his face contorted into a growl that might have looked intimidating if you weren't coming down from the high of laughter.

"Sorry, sorry...you can't tickle me all day," you conceded, wiping the tears from your eyes. Suddenly his touch disappeared, leaving a jarring emptiness in your gut. Looking back down, the merman stared at you, an expression of annoyance on his face before swiftly disappearing with a small splash under the shift of water. "Ah, wait! You can, uh...c'mon don't be so greedy! Let me have one foot, that's it!" Only silence echoed back.

The movement was so fast that you nearly fell back onto the pier from shock as the merman propelled himself out the water like a rocket, strong arms catching himself on the edge of the wood between your knees. His mouth opened nonchalantly to drop the clean hashimaki stick down onto the pier, reaffirming your idea that he disliked human waste in the waters that he called home. The close proximity of your faces, now only about a foot apart, made you stammer out a nervous laugh. Red and gold scales on his shoulders and arms glistened spectacularly against the sunset far in the distance giving him a radiant halo of splendor. You now saw the subtle gills on the sides of his neck, vibrating slightly as his chest moved with the rhythm of his breathing. Tilting his head to the side, he stared at you, eyes narrowed and brow furrowed. A webbed hand grazed across your thigh like an unexpected drop of rain. You knew your face was nearly the same shade as his eyes at this point. You swallowed hard, wondering what could possibly be passing through his head to end up in this position...until the hand holding your own hashimaki suddenly felt empty. His distraction proved effective, it seemed.

The merman stuffed your own snack into his mouth with a smirk, knowing his little game worked. You blinked at the realization that he was indeed intelligent and cunning, not just a handsome face with a fish tail.

"Wh...you little shit," you gritted out. He chuckled at your obvious annoyance as he licked the last bits of cabbage from his lips before taking the clean stick and flicking it into your forehead. "You're lucky you're cute or else I'd shove you right off this pier..."

Though he was done eating your stolen snack, he didn't move from his spot, arms now refolded atop one another, suspended above the open expanse of sea. Maybe this was an opportunity to see if he could do something other than just laugh at your agitation – he could laugh, so he had some sort of vocal chords, right?

"Um...can you talk?" You asked slowly, his ruby eyes watching the movement of your lips. No vocal response back. Opening your mouth, a light "aaaaaaaahhhh" came forth as you pointed from your own mouth to his, careful not to get too close to his fangs. You repeated the gesture, trying to see if he might mimic whatever you did in hopes of finding some attempt to communicate. Looking at you suspiciously, he opened his mouth to issue a curt "...aah". Well, it was something at least!

"So you can sort of talk? We can just practice for a bit, OK?" you noted with a nod. The merman nodded back.

"OK."

Your eye twitched at his mimed response. His voice like dark velvet in your ears from a single word, you wondered if he could actually understand what you were saying...but just couldn't respond properly? This was definitely something to research in the future.

You spoke in short, simple sentences to the merman, using gestures to help get certain ideas across. Sometimes, he picked a single word to speak back to you, voice low and enticing; other times he remained silent, merely staring at you with eyes that you suspected saw more than they let on. On more than one occasion he snickered at your exaggerated movements, making you consider he thought this whole situation yet another game of entertainment at your expense.

The darkness of night eventually passed over the pier, the sun dipping down below a blanket of dark blue and green waves at an unreachable horizon. You looked back over your shoulder, eyes scanning for the officer that disturbed you the previous day – so far, you were still alone.

Turning back to the merman in front of you, his head now resting against his forearms still nestled between your knees on the edge of the pier, you sighed. Today was an affirmation that you weren't dreaming, or delusional, or just imagining something to curb the lonely boredom of everyday turmoil. He was real, and that made you smile. Maybe it was a trick of the low light, but it almost looked like he smiled back.

You yawned, his eyes watching your mouth open, observing that your teeth were different from his own.

"Uh...I should go home," you conceded, tossing a thumb back over your shoulder pointing towards human civilization. "You should go too, before someone else notices you're here. I'll be back tomorrow though, OK?"

He seemed to understand that you were leaving as you shifted your feet up from the pier, the ball of your foot grazing the side of his tail accidentally. Shifting away from the touch, he growled at you – apparently him touching your legs was fine, but touching his tail was off-limits.

"Well that's a double standard...but maybe your tail is more sensitive than my legs?" The touch didn't linger long enough for you to really familiarize yourself with the texture, just a brief taste of moisture on your foot. Despite your growing curiosity on what his fish tail felt like, you pulled your feet all the way up, careful not to touch him again, wanting to respect his boundaries...and hopefully not scare him off if he assessed you as a possible threat.

You stood up, his eyes following you carefully as you wiped off the backs of your thighs from any possible splinters and debris. His annoyed expression faltered as you crouched back down, sad that the day was over but heart beating excitedly for what future evenings might hold. You held out your hand, hoping he understood it as a sort of peace offering, a sign that you acknowledged him and would return another day. Slowly, a webbed hand retreated from under his chin, placing his palm gently in your own, claws grazing your skin like stiff feathers. You nodded, and he nodded in return before you pulled your hand away.

"Tomorrow...OK?"

"OK," the merman replied, low and quiet in the darkness of the pier. You weren't sure if he understood, or was merely copying your words.

Standing up once more and gathering up your bag and the two discarded hashimaki sticks, you chanced one last look at the merman, observant eyes watching you. You waved goodbye, struggling to turn back around and head home, the pull of the ocean and irises of crimson weighing down your feet, movements sluggish and unenthused as you forced yourself forward.

A hand waved back in the shadows.

thank you for reading! please comment and favorite if you're enjoying the story!


	6. Chapter 6

The days following the second meeting with the mysterious merman proved to be interesting to say the least. He soaked up information like a sponge; it seemed like he was not only mimicking words back to you but actually understood the context behind certain words and phrases. Holding a proper conversation was still a faraway possibility, but he understood the meaning of "yes", "no", "hello", and "goodbye" after only a few hours. You never thought yourself any sort of teacher, but helping an adult - well, you assumed he was an adult, his physique certainly didn't seem like that of a child - wasn't so bad. The smug look on his face when you praised him for getting something right was worth the effort.

You also found out that he refused to eat anything unless it smelled marginally of fish, spitting out the food and turning up his nose at whatever he found unsatisfactory; he was not dissimilar a curious cat who only ate specific things under the right circumstances. The behavior was almost cute…until he tossed a half-eaten snack in your face again, at which point you put your foot down on those shenanigans.

Groaning as you wiped stray grains of rice from your face, you decided to see how good his comprehension skills were at this point. "Nope, not today. You wanna be rude, I'll just leave." The look of amusement on the merman's face as he leaned against the edge of the pier disappeared as you promptly stood up and went to gather up your things several hours earlier than you usually did.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, reaching forward in an attempt to grab your ankle before you pulled it away.

"Nope!" you protested, bending down to shove a stern finger in his face, red eyes nearly crossing to look at it properly. "If you don't like something that's fine, but you can't keep throwing shit in my face. I'm aware you know what 'nice' is, we went over it yesterday and you had no problems then. You gotta be nice or I'm leaving," you said, emphasizing the word. He growled and promptly tried to bite your finger, but you retreated just in time. "Well that's it, have a good night Mr. Merman. MAYBE I'll come back tomorrow…" Turning on your heel you headed down the pier, ignoring his whines and angry yelling before hearing a distinct splash.

Pausing in your walk you turned around and sure enough, the merman was no longer on the pier, an empty familiarity mirroring the days before he came along.

"…Well, shit. Was I too harsh? I shouldn't scold him like a pet, he's too smart for that…but I'm tired of getting food and water in my face." With brows furrowed and a sigh, you returned to the end of the pier and looked down over the edge. The murky water remained undisturbed as you called out gently. "Hey, uh…sorry. If you're listening, just stop spitting in my face and we won't have an issue, OK? You're fun to hang out with, even if we can't really talk to each other…" No response. Waiting around for a few more minutes, you resigned and stood up running a hand through your hair. "I was just joking, by the way. I'll be back tomorrow, and I'll bring a good snack. Promise." You weren't sure why, but the thought that he might not return brought a chill to your chest. As you walked away towards your apartment, you missed discerning red eyes following from a distance before disappearing under the gentle shift of the ocean current.

On your way back to the beach the next day you stopped by a fish market to grab some fresh fish - no rice or frills this time, just meat. It was more expensive than what you normally bought, but hopefully, a peace offering of something a bit nicer might pacify him a bit. However, you stopped short in the pier. Today you weren't alone.

A couple of dark silhouettes contrasted sharply against the orange of the sky at the edge of the pier. Creeping closer hoping not to draw too much attention to yourself, you set down your package of fish and sat down on the side far away from the end where the two strangers conversed. The creak of wood under your weight made a head turn in your direction, though it turned back around after a second, continuing on a loud conversation with his companion.

"Well, he probably won't show up now…" you whispered under your breath. Until now the merman only came around when you were alone, no one else in close proximity of the pier to disturb vocabulary lessons and snack time.

Something touched your foot.

Glancing off to the side at the talking strangers to see if they were watching, you looked down to see a familiar webbed hand retreating from your ankle, the rest of him hidden below the water under the pier. After a second blonde hair emerged, crimson eyes fixed at the end of the wooden walkway with an obvious scowl. It seemed like you didn't scare him off yesterday, though the reunion was disrupted by a pair of loud fishermen who seemed perfectly settled in their spots.

This could quickly turn into a bad situation, you realized. As far as you were aware, the only person who the merman revealed himself to was you; if anyone else saw him search parties and dive teams would have swarmed the area by now, or at least a news story on a slow night of local reporting would have surfaced. You had no way of controlling what he did, though it seemed he was wary enough of most humans to keep his distance…which made you wonder why he revealed himself to you in the first place.

A familiar claw touched your foot again, silent and undetectable except to you. Your eyes shifted to look down but a voice across the way snapped your head in the stranger's direction.

"Ey! You got any bait over there?" grunted the distinctly gruff voice of an old man.

You shook your head. "No…sorry." The raw fish was hidden from view on the side opposite the fishermen. Without a reply he turned back around, satisfied with your answer. If they were nearly out of bait, then they might leave soon.

Fifteen minutes went by with no change in your company on the pier. Every glance down into the water proved little adjustment in the merman as well, eyes glued to the men on the pier, motionless aside from bright blonde hair drifting in the dark teal water below.

Finally, an idea formed in your head. It was a huge gamble - and probably stupid - but it seemed like the rascally nature of the merman wore off on you.

Carefully you unwrapped part of the package of fish, the strong scent of unrefrigerated meat filling your nose. You tilted the package over the edge of the pier, the fin-like ears of the merman perking up at the crinkle of paper, nose in the air and eyes wide as he recognized the meal. You put a finger to your mouth signaling for him to keep quiet. He nodded.

"Hey, you guys!" you called out, the two fishermen stalling their conversation to look over at you. "I actually do have some bait for you, if you want it. I lost track of time out here, so now it's no good to eat. You can have this fish if you want." Rewrapping the package you pulled your feet up from the pier and walked over to the men.

One looked skeptical, the other more eager. "You really don't want it? We'll pay ya for it, maybe we'll catch somethin' big today with some half-decent bait, huh?" The excited man said, elbowing his dubious partner on the arm.

"…What's the catch?"

You shook your head, handing them the package. "No catch. Well, not for me…you might catch something interesting, though." Before they could argue you set the package down and made your way back to your original spot farther down the pier. Looking nonchalantly down into the water a pair of incredulous red eyes stared at you, fanged mouth gaping as he watched you give away HIS FISH to those other humans! The absolute nerve!

You winked, tilting your head in their direction. You both watched as one of the fishermen hooked a large piece of fish onto a pathetically small hook and cast his line out, the bait plopping into the water like a small brick.

Turning his angry eyes back towards you, he watched as you mimed a gesture subtly with your hands, hidden from the view of the two men. It only took a second for him to register what you meant, a devious smirk appearing on his face before diving under the water, undetected and unnoticed to everyone but you.

…However, the idea you had in mind was turned upside down as a live fish came flying out of the water hitting the man holding the baited pole right in the face with a deafening slap, causing him to drop his fishing pole from shock. Your hands flew to your mouth, tears gathering up in the corners of your eyes from trying to hold back laughter. Rather than simply steal the fish from the hook, the merman took it ten steps further and interpreted your flicking motion as "toss food at his face." Well, the plan seemed to work as you watched the struggling fisherman fling the fish back into the water with a yell as he watched his fishing pole promptly sink into the darkening water, pulled downward by an unseen force.

"What the hell was that?! What happened?" yelled the other fisherman, mouth agape at the spectacle.

"Fuckin' hell, I don't know! Some damn fish just came FLYING at me outta nowhere! Now my damn pole's gone! Keiko's gonna kill me anyway for staying out so late…shit, this was a terrible fishing spot, anyway. C'mon, let's go," the angry one exclaimed, snatching up a tackle box and marching his way down the pier, his friend quickly gathering up his own items and following behind. He didn't bother grabbing the leftover raw fish sitting on the edge of the pier.

Gathering yourself up to keep from laughing, you watched the two men hop into a battered-looking car and drive off. Once you were sure you were finally alone, laughter spilled out of your mouth, feet kicking above the water.

"H-holy shit…you threw a fish at them you deviant! That's not what I meant at ALL but I guess it worked?!" After a minute your laughter died down. Swinging your legs up onto the pier and walking over to your normal spot, you sat down next to the open wrapper of fish, a smile lighting up your face in the dim light left over from the waning sunset. After a minute blonde hair broke the surface of the water, a satisfactory smirk on his face at getting the intruders to finally leave.

"Well, I guess your expertise in hitting faces paid off…" Grabbing up the remaining piece of fish, you held it out as the merman licked his lips below you. He easily caught the piece in his mouth as you tossed it down, wiping your hand on your pants of the fishy residue.

It wasn't long before the meal was gone, the merman wasting no time on the treat. When red eyes met yours, it only took a moment for you to sputter about, another round of laughter bellowing from your chest at the antics. He mirrored your laugh happily, orange and gold fishtail slapping against the water. However, he abruptly stopped and dove under the water, disappearing in a flash.

"Wh- hey!" You looked around quickly to see if any other intruders were around, but you were still alone on the pier. So why did he…?

Leaning back with surprise - you still weren't used to his sudden airborne entrances - you watched as he hooked himself onto the side of the pier with his strong arms before pulling himself up to actually sit next to you for the first time. The discarded fishing pole lay in his webbed hands, empty of bait, fishing line tangled in a knot. With what looked like surprisingly little effort he snapped the rod in half and dropped it behind him, the echo of plastic and metal vibrating gently against the old wood of the pier.

Swallowing hard you tried not to stare but it was…difficult. This was the closest you'd ever been to him on equal footing, and hiding under the water did him little justice. The human-like part of him was _ripped_ , the lean muscles of a strong swimmer running from his neck down to his torso where he transitioned into glittering scales of orange, black, and gold. Though the light around you was dim, the moonlight from the sky echoed off him like a shimmering ghost; how someone could encapsulate the warmth of the sun and the beauty of the moon all at once was something you couldn't even begin to comprehend at that moment as he turned his head towards you, crimson eyes gazing into your very soul taking your breath away. He was glorious.

You were about to turn your head away from embarrassment but something else caught your eye - his tail. It was the first time seeing it up close out of the water…and scars ran up from his fins nearly to his waist. His red eyes followed your gaze and, seeing where you were looking, growled low and made like he was about to jump back into the water.

"Ah, wait! Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to stare…" you mumbled out, putting your hands up defensively. He paused in his movements, waiting for you to say anything else. "I guess that explains why you don't want anyone touching it…Um, did humans," you said, pointing to yourself. "…do that to you?" pointing then to his tail littered with marks long and short, thin and wide.

He looked away with a sneer, but shook his head in a definite "no." You noticed his clawed hands gripping tightly to the edge of the waterlogged wood, knuckles straining and muscles tense. As much as you wanted to comfort him, you thought it a bad idea to try and touch him at this point. He'd let you see him completely, unhindered by illusions of the sea water; it would be foolish to push closer contact unless he instigated it.

"Sorry…you don't have to tell me where they came from. It's not my business." Scars - both emotional and physical - were always the most difficult to reveal to someone, riddled with painful memories or stories of loss. It wasn't your place to meddle, no matter how strong your curiosity. "It's very pretty, though. Your tail, I mean. Scars and all."

Turning his head slightly to look back at you, his expression was unreadable as he lifted his tail slightly off the pier, giving you a better view. You'd seen artist renderings of mermaids online and in storybooks, and on more than one occasion you'd seen what looked like knees as if they drew a tail on top of regular human legs. Real merperson tails didn't appear to work like that, however; though strong and sturdy, there was no bend in the middle, only a perfect curve of scales and fins reflecting against the moonlight.

The silence stretched on between the two of you, unsure of what to do or say at this point. Surprisingly, the merman was the one to break the awkwardness.

"Thank…for fish," he muttered out, turning away from you once again. It was one of the few complete sentences he'd spoken, proving that your teaching wasn't completely in vain. Your face lit up at his simple words.

"Oh…you're welcome! I felt bad about yesterday, but…please don't flick food in my face anymore. Deal?"

"…Deal," he said in response. Hopefully, he meant it.

"Maybe tossing that fish into that guy's face got it all out of your system, hm? It really was funny, though. As long as it's not at me, keep tossing fish. Just don't get caught." He snickered at your words, apparently confident in his ability to stay hidden. No other human knew he was there, knew he existed; a secret kept in present company.

While you stared at the reflection of the moon across the horizon of the ocean that met the sky seamlessly, he stared at you, and only you.


	7. Chapter 7

The song lyrics in this chapter are from the song "A Burning Hill" by Mitski. It's quite beautiful, and I recommend listening to it when the lyrics, noted by _ITALICS_ show up 3

"...What?" you asked, pausing the noisy typing of your keyboard to give your full attention to the coworker looming over your desk.

"Can't back out now! I'm setting you up and he knows when and where to meet. And I know you don't have plans because you never have plans," they exclaimed, patting you a little too forcefully on the shoulder. It took an excruciating amount of effort not to groan.

"What if I don't want to go on a date with a total stranger?"

They shrugged their shoulders, face pulled into a plastic toothy smile. "You need to get out more! I promise he's great, it'll be fine." After writing his name and the restaurant on a sticky note stolen from your desk and plastering it to your computer screen, they brushed off their hands as if their good samaritan deed for the day was complete.

"Have you told him about me? Like...what does he know?" you bit out slowly, taking the note from your screen.

"Oh, loads! I made you look good, don't worry." Completely confident in their ability to play you up as someone mildly interesting to a complete stranger, they walked back to their desk, resuming the click and clack of computer work.

The whole situation made your head feel like lead, the brain between your ears wanting nothing more than to weigh down your skull and slam into your scratched work desk. The problem wasn't necessarily the date itself; no, you could openly admit the last date you went on was...a while ago. Didn't go well. The thought of being single forever wasn't particularly appealing. No, the issue was your coworker. They didn't know you _at all_ , not the real you anyway. Not the you outside of the office, the mechanics of routine present when you showed up to work every day, when you left, how you conversed with coworkers, how often you laughed at jokes, what kind of jokes you laughed at, or how often the laughter was faked to avoid appearing too stoic in an environment where you knew "fitting in" was paramount to company politics.

The "you" they knew wasn't really "you" at all. So if the fake you is what this mystery man expected, well he was probably in for a disappointing first meeting.

Your interactions with the merman were progressing as well as could be expected, to contrast. He continued to learn words, stringing them together in ways that sometimes made you laugh. He absorbed information at a striking pace, eager to show that he could pay attention and recite what he learned at any given opportunity. Today was no different.

"OK, don't be pissed, but I won't be here tomorrow…" you sighed out to the merman laying next to you on the pier. A week had passed since the incident with the fishermen - they didn't come back - and he now split his time between the water and laying more openly next to you. Head supported in his webbed hands, tail lazing off the side of the weather-worn wood, he seemed at ease. Building up a rapport of trust took time, but you were making progress.

His ruby eyes flitted from your fidgeting fingers to the look of guilt on your face. "Why?" he asked, voice raspy yet firm.

You cleared your throat awkwardly before answering, avoiding his observant gaze. "Someone at work set me up on a...date. It's stupid but whatever, we'll see how it goes," you shrugged.

"What's a...date?" The last word was experimental on his tongue.

"Ah, well, it's generally when two people get together and hang out-"

"Like us now?" he interrupted, finishing off the last piece of sushi you'd brought covered in extra wasabi - apparently he loved spicy things. Your cheeks turned an awful shade of pink at the implication. Shaking your head, you continued the definition with careful words.

"..N-no, not like us. A date has...romantic significance. To see if two people like each other as more than friends." Glancing over the merman immediately bristled, the blonde hair on the back of his neck standing straight not unlike that of an angry dog. He turned on you in a huff.

"Romance?" he practically barked at you, red eyes wide and brow furrowed. "Like...a mate?!"

You leaned away, taken aback by his sudden aggressive turn. "Uh...mate? Is that what you call a romantic partner?" The term was familiar to you when it came to animals, so...maybe merpeople had a similar system when it came to partners? Observing him warily he seemed to mull the words over in his head, making sure he understood before speaking.

"You _date_ …" the merman said slowly, "...to find mate?"

"I guess? Yes? I mean, not everyone wants a partner, or finds someone to spend their life with...but for the most part yeah, humans want companionship, to be loved…" you trailed off, thinking about your failed past relationships. Some of them had promising starts, but ultimately didn't work out; a couple were disasters that you were glad to escape from. Still, some days proved more difficult than others when dealing with the fact that you always came home to an empty apartment with only your cat to greet you. It was lonely, truth be told, but you dealt with it. Now this topic of conversation made you curious; he asked you about a mate, which you inferred meant he wasn't the only merperson around like you'd first guessed, an anomaly in the sea. He wasn't alone.

"So…do you have a mate, then?" you asked, carefully watching his reaction. He quickly turned his head to the side and scoffed, though you didn't miss the slight dusting of pink on his cheeks.

"No mate," he replied through gritted teeth. You let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding at his answer. His gruff voice gave the indication that this particular topic of conversation was over. Fine by you; discussing your non-existent love life wasn't exactly exciting business anyway.

You were a ball of nervous anxiety the next day, dreading this date your coworker set you up on without even asking first. They gave you some basic information about the guy, but nothing really set off alarm bells that he was anything other than average, just like you. Maybe you'd have something in common after all - mediocrity.

Going home from work to change clothes first, you pulled out an outfit that wasn't too formal but looked like you put some effort in; first impressions mattered, right?

Arriving at the restaurant a bit early, you sat down and waited. It was fairly new but appeared busy, various smells hitting your nose pleasantly. You weren't given his number, your coworker probably assuming he'd hand it over if the date went well. Ordering a glass of wine for yourself, your eyes scanned over the menu.

Fifteen minutes passed, the seat across from you still empty. You told yourself he was running late or got caught in traffic. No big deal.

Half an hour later you ordered another glass of wine, the red bitter on your tongue.

Another half hour went by. The waiter came back, a pitying look on his face as he looked at the blank seat across from you, passing over the empty wine glass to your face, a mixture of sadness and jilted anger across your features.

"Excuse me, would you-"

"Just give me the check," you muttered out, staring daggers at an imaginary man across the empty table lit by a single flickering candle.

After paying you stumbled out of the restaurant, head swimming and feet heavy. You'd anticipated a bad date, one that might join the list of other unsuccessful adventures in romance...but being stood up completely by someone you'd never even met? That hurt. It stung.

Walking down the street, the lamps overhead feeling especially bright, your mind wandered into the dangerous territory of questions you knew you shouldn't ask. The footsteps and casual laughter of happy passersby were muffled by static in your ears. Maybe it was the alcohol talking. Maybe the bubbles of self-doubt surfaced after years of burying them with false hope and lies told in the dark cool air of your bedroom as you slept alone at night. Maybe it was a mix of both.

Were you that...boring? Had your coworker shown them a picture and determined you too ugly to even meet in person, so they bailed at the last minute? Did they agree to the date just to pacify your coworker's nagging? Did they just forget about you? Mundane. Average. Boring. A routine life of tedium...that was you.

Maybe you were meant to be alone. Maybe no one wanted you, your false smile at work a little too plastic, your peers thinking the fake you a little too unemotional, laughing at the same jokes with the same people day in and day out.

Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes as the familiar scent of salt water and damp sand filled your nose. Your feet moved on their own accord towards the pier now shaded by the light of the moon overhead, the sun sleeping under the ocean current.

With familiarity brought comfort. Your arms wrapped around yourself at an attempt for some semblance of relief, fingers gripping tightly to your sleeves as you laid down heavily on the scuffed wood of the pier, eyes fixed upwards at constellations you could never remember the names of.

" _Today I will wear my white button down…"_

Your voice was shaky but the words wouldn't stop, a tune playing in your heart spiraling up into your mouth, lyrics sticky and thick on your tongue like bitter syrup.

" _I'm tired of wanting more,_

I think I'm finally worn."

Your cheek was damp, a salty tear soaking into the wood under your hair. It would dry up soon, forgotten like the millions of raindrops etched into the grain whenever the sky cried. You felt tired.

" _For you have a way of promising things…"_

Lost promises of hoping for something amazing, something spectacular...no, too much. Even something that just made you happy would be enough at this moment as your cracking voice lifted into the damp night air like a dim firefly, invisible unless vigilant and curious eyes sought it out.

" _And I've been a forest fire_

I am the forest fire

And I am the fire and I am the forest and I am a witness watching it...

I stand in a valley watching it."

Your chest felt like it was about to burst as a sob escaped your throat.

...and you are not there at all."

Maybe you were meant to be alone, maybe-

A rough hand wobbled into your vision distorted by spilling tears and touched your cheek gently. It was light, nothing more than a brush of air. Ruby eyes and blonde hair hovered over you, brows furrowed in a questioning look. The merman was completely silent in his approach, probably drawn in by the singing and sounds of pathetic crying. You sniffled and looked away, wholly embarrassed at that moment when you realized you weren't alone in your sadness.

"Uh-"

"No," he whispered softly, the usual raspiness of his voice absent. A tear stuck to your eyelash finally fell onto your skin flushed from alcohol and frustration, but he caught it with another gentle touch.

You remained on your back, arms still folded, knuckles white from the grip on your sleeves. Your toes curled in your shoes. The silence was deafening, your own shaky breath like fog in your ears. He didn't move, webbed hand still cradled on your cheek.

"...What's your name?" you finally asked. Somehow, until this moment, you'd never thought to find out if he had a name, or tell him your own. He tilted his head slightly, less than a foot from your face, not understanding the question. Uncrossing your arms, you gestured to yourself, fingertips digging into the fabric at your chest. "I'm (Y/N)...me (Y/N)," you uttered slowly, his eyes following your hand to your lips and back again. Finally, you pointed at his chest, brushing against his skin like the tickle of flower petals. "You are…?"

"...Bakugou."

"Bakugou," you repeated, and he nodded, eyes never leaving your own. For the first time that night you managed a small smile. "It's a nice name. Strong. It suits you." He didn't move at all but his eyes resembled miniature suns to you in that moment, bright and sparkling and full of life even under the dim light of the pier veiled under the night sky.

"What about...date," Bakugou asked slowly. Oh, right. The date. You laughed bitterly, hands at your sides, fingers drumming on the grainy wood.

"He...didn't show up. Dunno." Shrugging your shoulders, you glanced off to the side at the empty beach. "Maybe he forgot or changed his mind. So I left…" The hand on your cheek shifted to grip your chin, turning your head, eyes fixed on the merman named Bakugou. Everything felt incredibly warm, and it wasn't because of the alcohol.

"He's stupid," Bakugou barked out with a conviction that made your eyes go wide. "Understand?" It was a word you used often when teaching him phrases and meanings to make sure he grasped the proper interpretation; the implication when he said it to you now wasn't lost. You nodded, and he looked satisfied.

Maybe it was the wine bubbling in your system that made you feel bold, pooling in your head as you laid with your back against the hard wooden slats. "Pfft, I bet he was ugly anyway," you slurred, grinning with warm cheeks. Bakugou let go of your chin, both hands positioned on either side of your head as he leaned over you. "Your tail alone-" you continued, pointing over to his less human half, "is way prettier than that stupid idiot could ever hope to be!"

An incredibly smug grin highlighted his features, toned chest puffed out as he proudly shifted his tail, scales glistening against the reflection of the water shining from below. The scene made you laugh, happy for the change in atmosphere.

"I'd rather be here than a boring date, anyway."

"I'm not stupid," Bakugou stated as an indisputable fact that should not be questioned. He leaned in close - very close - his breath cool on your flushed face. Holy shit he was pretty. "You not stupid," he emphasized. You swallowed hard, his eyes pools of passion as deep as an endless expanse of blooming roses.

Opening your mouth to reply with something you'd probably regret, the vibration of your phone buzzing in your pants pocket ruined the moment as Bakugou shifted away with a snarl. You fished the phone out of your pocket, not recognizing the number.

"Uh, hello?" A loud voice on the other end cut through the calm sea air.

"Where the hell are you?! I look like an idiot now because you bailed on the date I set you up on!" You pulled the phone away from your ear, wincing from the volume. It sounded like your coworker. Wait...you bailed?!

"Hold on, I waited there for over an HOUR and that shitface didn't show up! So I left, end of story."

They continued to yell into the phone, your eyes rolling towards the back of your head at the dramatic tone. For once you wanted them to just shut up. Warm alcohol running through your system as liquid bravery, you got an idea.

Holding the phone out to Bakugou, you smirked. "Tell them to 'shut up' OK? Just say it into the phone."

Eyes flitting between you and the device in your hand, you nodded as he mirrored your smirk before yelling, "SHUT UP!" into the receiver, a hand covering your mouth in an attempt to stifle your laughter. His voice echoed farther than you anticipated, but you didn't care. The line on the other end immediately went quiet...until they started yelling again, at which point you hung up and put your phone on silent, stuffing it back into your pocket.

"Perfect! You did great; I've wanted to say that to them for years." Without thinking you brought a hand up to pat his head approvingly. Surprisingly, he didn't shift away, smiling excitedly into the touch. His hair was soft. "You tell someone to 'shut up' when you want them to be quiet. Understand?" It took a second before Bakugou nodded. You took your hand away from his hair, letting it drop beside you like a dead weight, enjoying the feeling of fleeing strands against your fingers. A wanting look flitted across his face for only a moment, but you missed it, eyes focused upwards at the dark cloudless sky, an ocean above and below you.

"...Why did you show yourself to me?" you asked suddenly. Your bravery hadn't worn off yet, questions lighting across your curious tongue wanting the taste of an answer only Bakugou could provide. "Why me? What makes me so special?" The questions hung in the air, heavy and thick like dense fog despite the cool breeze the waves provided. Your eyes finally met his, oddly serious, a shift from the look of pleased amusement from just a few minutes ago.

"You looked alone," he finally muttered. He knew you better than your coworker, the truth of such a short yet poignant statement hitting your gut like a punch you couldn't dodge. "Most humans there…" A webbed hand pointed over to the beach, empty aside from the daily remnants of sand castles and overflowing trash cans. "But you," he said, hand returning to point directly in your face, "always alone."

"Always…" you repeated slowly. "Did you watch me, watch others?" He shrugged.

"Humans fun to watch, fun to…" Bakugou smirked, eyes trained on you. "...throw fish." You snorted, recalling the memory of the previous week. His hand returned to the side of your head, palm flat against the wood, fingers brushing against your hair like a light breeze.

"Well you aren't wrong, humans can be pretty entertaining sometimes...and yeah, I guess you aren't wrong about me being alone, either." He watched your expression fall, a faraway look behind your eyes. "But...what about you, Bakugou? Are you alone, too?"

He looked away, and for a moment you thought you delved too far, asked one question too many of him. He turned back to you, though. The ocean breeze ruffled his hair so casually you forgot for only a moment that he wasn't human. "Not alone now," the merman declared, voice absent of raspiness, the same as when he brushed your tears away.

Gentle waves crashed against the pillars of the pier, background noise behind the thumping of your heart behind your ribcage. "No…not alone now," you muttered. Despite the beauty of the night sky behind him, the stars held no comparison to his eyes, specks of red bright against an endless expanse of blacked blue above you.

 _So today I will wear my white button down..._

Your walk home was sober, a smile tugging at the corners of your lips, the streetlamps above you casting dancing shadows behind you.

 _I can at least be neat, walk out and be seen as clean_

A soft meow greeted you at home, back arching and chest purring for the familiarity of your affection, which you freely and gladly gave as you readied yourself for bed.

 _And I'll go to work and I'll go to sleep_

Your coworker left angry voicemails that you deleted without a second thought. The bedsheets were cool and soft against your skin, head heavy but clear as it sunk into the pillow.

 _And I'll love the littler things_

Your eyes closed easily, remnants of salty air clinging to the back of your throat as you dreamed of fields of blooming red roses floating easily on delicate blue waves against a sunset of orange and shimmering gold.

 _I'll love some littler things..._


	8. Chapter 8

The bus ride to work was surprisingly pleasant, the smallest of smiles tugging at the corners of your lips for a reason you couldn't quite name, the groan of the engine squeaking to a stop as you stood up, walked off the bus, and headed to work. Today didn't feel so bad.

As soon as the elevator stopped at your floor and your feet propelled you forward on the dirty office carpet, a familiar voice called your attention off to the side.

"You!" your coworker muttered through gritted teeth, eyes flitting back and forth to avoid causing a scene in the quiet office space. "What was that shit you pulled last night?"

Your smile didn't waver as you continued to walk. "Hm? Oh, I thought I was pretty clear on the phone…he didn't show up, so I left. And had a much better time with someone else as a result." They stood slack-jawed, taken aback by your sudden unabashed boldness.

"Someone…is that who told me to 'shut up' on the phone? Nearly blew my ears out!"

Sitting down at your desk you looked at them fully now, for once confident in tossing aside the mask. "Yes. And I told him to say it. It's quite rude to yell at someone for doing nothing wrong, you know." The look of incredulity on their face only tightened your smile more, lips taut against the front of your teeth.

Steam nearly pouring out of their nostrils, your coworker finally turned around in a huff and sat down at their own desk. You anticipated they would not bother you for the rest of the day, maybe even for days after that. It felt…good.

The quiet of the afternoon, undisturbed outside of the morning spat with your coworker, was a welcome change compared to the events of the previous evening; a blind date that didn't show up, buried feelings of inadequacy bubbling to the surface like a freshly opened soda can, an overwhelming feeling of appreciation for the merman whose name you finally knew. Your cheeks felt warm at the thought of him, surprisingly gentle despite his penchant for pranks and sharp exterior. He was complex, not unlike a human, and every evening he seemed to surprise you with something new.

You took your usual route home once you stepped off the bus, walking past a variety of familiar shops that you never really went into. When you were almost to the corner of the street, however, you stopped as a window display caught your eye.

"…That's perfect!" you exclaimed, marching into the small bookstore.

Heading straight to the section for children felt a bit odd, but it would have the best selection of things you were looking for. Unable to find the book in the window display, you flagged down an employee.

"Uh, excuse me! Can you help me find one of the books in the display at the front of the store?"

A kind-looking older woman smiled at you. "Oh, of course! Which one did you want?"

Saying the words aloud made the whole idea sound immediately absurd. "The kid's book about mermaids." The woman nodded, nearly knocking the ill-fitting large glasses balanced precariously on the end of her nose to the floor.

"Oh, it's a new one we just received. Let me see…over this way I believe," she said, shuffling over to a section marked "FANTASY." It took all your strength to keep from laughing knowing the sign was…well, incorrect. Mermaids were real, and Bakugou was solid visual proof.

"Your child will enjoy this I'm sure, the story is very cute." She pulled a book from a shelf as you stuttered in place.

"What?! Oh, oh…n-no I don't have kids. It's uh…for my nephew! He just loves anything to do with the ocean and is all about mermaids and things like that right now…" you muttered nervously. The whole idea of showing Bakugou a book about what humans generalized about mermaids would either be hilarious or dangerous depending on how he reacted. "Thank you." Taking the book from the woman you looked around the store, getting another idea. "Do you have books on animals? And maybe dinosaurs, too?"

The woman's face it up at being able to help you find a few more things. "Oh sure thing, dear. Right this way!"

A bag of books now gripped in your hand, you made your way home to change clothes and head down to the pier. It felt a bit odd to bring Bakugou a bunch of children's picture books considering he was an adult, but the idea of showing him things he would probably never see otherwise was too entertaining of an opportunity to pass up. You wondered which animal might be his favorite, which ones he would find completely unappealing, his opinion on…well, everything; you just wanted to know more about him. He was getting better at communicating, even if his grammar and word usage was simple. Maybe you'd find out more about where he came from, his home, and why he seemed to be just as alone as you.

After grabbing a snack from the beach hut - the owner finally stopped asking why you'd suddenly doubled your appetite - your sand-covered feet carried you towards the familiar pier. The sound of yelling caught your attention as you walked closer. Looking up several wildly moving silhouettes stood at the end of the wooden structure.

"Oh no…" you groaned, hoping they wouldn't cause much trouble as you slowed your pace, not wanting to bring attention to yourself.

"…can't believe this!" a female voice yelled out, disrupting the otherwise calm atmosphere. "Maybe if you weren't such an ASSHOLE this wouldn't even be an issue!"

"You serious?!" a man replied, rounding on the woman. You stood far back on the pier, toes curling in the warm sand under your feet as you looked at your phone in an attempt to appear uninterested and uninvolved in case they noticed you. "You're blaming you cheating on ME?!"

You gulped, eyes glued to your phone screen. Oh…no. This might not end well.

"Maybe if you gave me some attention every once in a while I wouldn't have done it! When's the last you asked me how my shitty day was, huh?!" the woman screamed, voice cracking from the strain of trying not to break down crying - a familiar sound that made you inwardly cringe.

"I gave you everything! Fuck you!" A yelp made you look up to now see only one person on the dock, silhouette dark and foreboding and intense against the orange sunset. The contrast was jarring, but a large splash brought your eyeline down to the water below the pier.

You cursed under your breath. "Shit…Bakugou, you better not be nearby…"

The creak of wood under quickly moving feet came closer and closer as the man stomped angrily off the pier towards the road. He ignored you, but he walked close enough for you to feel the heartache and rage radiating off him like steam from a whistling kettle. When he was far enough away for you to be sure he wasn't coming back, you quickly walked to the edge of the pier towards the loud splashing in the water. Setting down your bag of storybooks and snacks you knelt over the edge to see the upset woman, waving arms disturbing the normally calm water under the wooden slats.

"Hey!" you called out to her. She looked up, makeup running down her face, brows furrowed in frustration. "Do you need help? I can uh, try and pull you up!"

She seemed skeptical, tossing wet hair out of her eyes to squint up at you through the glare of the sun reflecting off the water. "Who the hell are you?" Her voice was rough, laced with agitation at the situation.

"I saw what happened. None of my business, I'm just offering you a hand if you need it," you replied, hoping she saw you as a neutral observer and nothing more. After a few seconds, the woman sighed, but she extended her hand up out of the water. It took a few tries, the water making her skin difficult to grip properly, but eventually, you managed to help her up and onto the pier.

She coughed before standing up, trying to retain some sliver of dignity in what you knew was an embarrassing situation. "Uh…thanks I guess." You watched as she walked past you on the pier not bothering to wait for a reply, clothes dripping and heavy as she tried to hold herself together, to not break down, to appear fine.

You sighed, hoping the unwanted excitement didn't scare Bakugou away completely. Bare feet swung over the edge of the pier as you pulled the bag of books closer, taking one of the hashimaki sticks in hand. If there was one good thing about being single, it was the distinct lack of relationship drama.

After about ten minutes of waiting, a familiar touch at your foot brought your eyes down to the now calm water.

Bakugou's light blonde hair poked out from the top of the water, slowly rising up to reveal those striking ruby eyes of his darting around cautiously to make sure you were alone.

"It's OK, those people are gone now," you replied to his silent question, looking back over your shoulder one last time, the occasional seagull or car the only other sounds outside of the comforting shift of ocean waves. "You need to be careful that no one sees you…I wouldn't stay too close to the shore when I'm not here."

The merman made his way onto the pier like he normally did, though before laying down he grabbed you by the chin to look carefully into your eyes, turning your head gingerly from side to side. You could feel your cheeks heating up at the close contact.

"Uh, wh-"

"No sad today," he responded. He was checking for tears, conscious of the previous night's emotional events. "Good." With that he let go, but rather than resting on the pier next to you as you expected, he laid his head down on your thigh - using it as a pillow - his glittering tail flowing over the edge of the pier, calm eyes looking up at you. His damp hair left a wet spot on your pants, but you didn't really mind.

He then opened his mouth expectantly…like he wanted you to feed him, a king waiting to be served his daily meal.

"You serious?" His look silently conveyed that yes, he was serious. You rolled your eyes, but grabbed the extra hashimaki, hovering it above his mouth before he bit off half in a single swift motion. He was Dionysus and you were his servant, feeding him delicately as he lay in your lap contentedly. Too cute to say 'no' to, you obliged Bakugou's spoiled behavior. It was your own fault, after all.

"I brought something for you today, hopefully, it's not too weird…" you muttered, grabbing the bag of books and pulling them close as Bakugou fiddled with the now clean stick in his mouth eyeing the bag suspiciously. "I found some books. I know you can't read words but they're mostly pictures, anyway."

Bakugou turned around in your lap, his chin resting in one hand, the other draped behind you, his fingers fiddling with the soft fabric of your shirt hem. It felt protective, in a way; maybe it was Bakugou communicating silently that you weren't alone, and neither was he, soft touches and close contact a reminder of a memory shared under the delicate moonlight. You smiled softly at the thought.

Over the next hour you flipped through the book of land animals, Bakugou pointing to ones that caught his attention and asking broken questions about the more unique looking ones: do elephants eat with their trunks? How do large birds fly if they're so heavy? Why are giraffe necks so long? The innocent questions of an inquisitive mind, you answered them as best you could in terms he could understand. He seemed particularly fond of animals with sharp teeth and ferocious claws, such as tigers and wolves.

He was nearly sitting halfway in your lap at one point, ruby eyes looking curiously at the picture book in your hands, tail swaying softly over the edge of the pier. Unconsciously, your free hand ran up to his soft hair, fingers threading through the damp strands like a wide-tooth comb. Bakugou leaned into the touch, especially liking if you scratched his scalp lightly. Was that a…purr? Low and soft and nearly silent, but it was there. Afraid if you brought it up he would stop, your lips pursed together tightly.

The book wasn't long, so you brought out another - this one on dinosaurs. You couldn't provide quite as many answers to questions he asked since you were far from an expert on creatures that went extinct millions of years ago.

"That," Bakugou interrupted suddenly as you flipped to a new page in the dinosaur book, pointing at a particularly ugly-looking fish. "It alive."

You blinked, fingers stopping atop his hair. "What?" you asked. "This thing's alive?" He seemed annoyed at your stationary hand, nudging it slightly as he nodded.

His eyes shifted, thinking of the right words to convey his thoughts. "It…very deep, hides," he said, looking at the illustrated image of the ancient-looking fish.

"You're saying this fish, which hasn't been seen alive for millions of years…that it exists? Like, swimming around?" If what he mentioned was true, it would be a scientific breakthrough for sure! Then you remembered that just by existing, Bakugou was himself an anomaly…so of course it made sense that things lurked in the darkness of the ocean where no human could easily go, undiscovered for millennia.

He rolled his eyes at your skepticism. "Tch. Yeah, it alive."

"Holy shit that's pretty cool…" At that, he seemed to perk up, once again proud that he could make you smile.

Turning one more page Bakugou froze in your lap as you felt the hairs on the back of his neck against your wrist stiffen, eyes going wide. You felt his arm tense at your back, webbed hand tightening around the hem of your shirt.

The image was of the infamous Megalodon.

"Hey, it's alright, just a picture…wait," you stopped, a wretched thought sinking into your stomach. "This…it doesn't exist…right? These can't exist still, they're too big not to notice. These were twice as big as sharks are now…" Despite your words, he genuinely looked scared. You quickly closed the book, blocking the picture from view. Nervously he shook his head, jaw clenched tightly, back muscles rigid.

"No…" he finally said, voice barely above a whisper. "But…teeth same as…" his voice trailed off, eyes shifting slowly to his tail, to the scars. While he seemed unbothered by them once you mentioned his tail was pretty weeks earlier, now there was a shift in demeanor, shame coating his features. Unconsciously your hand deviated from his hair to his shoulder, thumb rubbing soft circles into his skin in some attempt to comfort.

"So that's how you got…mm. I'm sorry. You're safe now, though…" Eventually he calmed down, the muscles in his shoulders relaxing under your touch. "Hey, I have one more book, and I think you might find this one funny. Maybe it'll cheer you up a bit, make you laugh. No more sharks or bad things, I promise."

He turned to face you, eyes holding an unfamiliar sadness in them that made your heart break. Last night started out as a disaster, but by the time you went to sleep everything felt calm and you felt…happy, and it was all because of him. Now it was your turn to return the favor.

You pulled out the book on mermaids and held it up to him, downcast eyes looking up at the cover. His eye immediately twitched, snapping him out of dark memories and unwanted visions. "What…is that?" voice laced with obvious disgust at the crudely drawn image on the front of the book of a little mermaid girl playing with fish and having a tea party with seashells.

You unsuccessfully tried to hold in a laugh at his expression, hoping the shift in the topic could lift his mood. "It's a book for children about mermaids, like you. Except everyone thinks mermaids aren't real…so this is what they think up."

"Me?!" he screeched, snatching the book from you and flipping through the pages angrily. "I'm real!"

"I know you're real, but I might be one of only a few."

Bakugou flipped through the book's laminated pages, growling at a few particularly egregious illustrations of mermaids riding on seahorses and building castles out of coral. You had to cover his mouth at one point when he started yelling in the middle of the book, hoping no one lurking around would hear. His anger dissipated towards the end of the story, a swarm of merpeople gathering around for a birthday party, the faraway look in his eyes appearing once more.

"What's wrong?" you asked, hoping prying more into his life wasn't out of the question. Hesitating before speaking, a clawed finger pointed to the group of happy merpeople, smiling and laughing together without a care in the world.

"I'm…I stay away. From home."

"Stay away…why? You don't uh, have to tell me if you don't want to…" Your hand was still on his bare shoulder, his hand still clinging to your shirt.

Slowly Bakugou pointed to his tail, lightly running a finger over a particularly deep scar on his hip. "…followed me. Smelled me. Swam away home…"

It took you a minute to piece together his words, lips parted and brows furrowed at his implication. "So…you swam away, from the shark that attacked you. Then it followed you…to your home?" He nodded slowly after a moment, confirming your assumptions.

"It…" he turned away, a mixture of anger and regret etched in his face, fangs visible and eyes fierce. "It hurt others. My fault."

Your heart caught in your throat at his words. He blamed himself for getting other merpeople hurt while trying to just make it home safely. Predators of the sea were unforgiving in their pursuit of food, sharks having the ability to sniff out a single drop of blood hundreds of meters away. The scene played out in your mind, not unlike the picture book sitting on your lap.

Bakugou, ever the curious prankster, explored an area rarely visited looking for adventure, a challenge outside whatever the day to day routine of merpeople involved.

Distracted, he didn't notice the silent shark swimming close by, watching, waiting for the right opportunity.

A spill of blood, a yell underwater, the flit of a tail, gnashing of teeth.

He swam.

Faster and faster, weaving in and out of underwater caverns, hiding behind a long-forgotten shipwreck thinking he was safe to swim home, to forget.

A shark's sense of smell is no less dangerous than the rows of teeth stained with the metallic taste of blood.

It followed silently.

A heavy sigh of relief escaped Bakugou as he made it home, though his tail was a permanent reminder of what might happen when wandering too far from the familiar, from the safe, from the tedium.

A scream. Another. And another. His blood ran cold.

Someone - a hero, a protector - drove the shark away, but the damage was done, and fingers pointed to merman with the ruby eyes.

" _He's dangerous!"_

" _What if it comes back?"_

" _He brought it here!"_

So he fled, swam far from home where he could be alone in his guilt, somewhere the shark wouldn't follow. Closer to shore - to humans - was the answer. Threats of the deep didn't often make their way so close to humanity.

Then he saw you.

"Bakugou…" Eyes glazed over with images of his story, you jolted back to reality when a cool hand touched your face. Looking down at the merman still perched in your lap you saw the imprints of your fingers in his shoulder, gripping harder than you'd realized as your imagination ran away from you. "Shit, sorry! Sorry…" you apologized, letting go quickly. The expression on his face was calm, a controlled look of concern. "I understand now. Well, sorta, I dunno. Anyway…sorry. But you also shouldn't blame yourself for anything, it's not your fault."

He started to argue, brows furrowed. "But-!"

"No," you whispered, placing a finger to his lips to hush him. His lips were surprisingly soft. "No sad…got it?" You mimicked his own words from earlier back at him.

You watched his throat bob up and down as he swallowed thickly, the gills on the sides of his neck shivering against his gentle breathing as he stilled his eyes, red trained on you. His breath against your finger was warm, contrasting the refreshing coolness of his skin. The moment seemed to stretch far longer than reality before you took your hand away calmly, a single instance expanding into a frame-by-frame memory in slow motion.

Finally, he nodded. He understood.

The rest of the evening - despite having little light once the sun set - was occupied with Bakugou laying across your lap and flipping through the books one more time, the occasional question breaking the quiet ocean stillness. Setting the books down Bakugou yawned and settled into your lap, using your legs as a lumpy pillow.

"Uh, no, you can't fall asleep here-" One eye opened to look up at you before letting out a low growl. "Dude, I gotta go home…" As adorable as it was having Bakugou attempt to fall asleep in your lap, sleeping on the pier outside wasn't exactly part of your plan for the day.

However…you couldn't pass up the opportunity to rake your fingers through his soft hair one last time, feeling him sigh contentedly as his eyes fluttered closed. While he was still a mystery, today proved important in understanding more about him; he seemed to trust you enough to bare his vulnerability, his fears, his own insecurities. He was far more human in his flaws than you initially realized, raw and sincere behind ruby eyes and glistening tail and otherworldly beauty.

Under the moonlight ghosting across the shoreline, a gentle hum hit your throat, the sound reverberating against the silent creak of salt-stained wood. A webbed hand held onto your shirt, muscles relaxing against your thighs as Bakugou started to drift off to the sound of your voice, a song unfamiliar but still alluring. You let him relax, telling yourself another five minutes couldn't hurt as you committed the image of the sleeping merman to memory, adding it to the growing stack of mental snapshots stowed away in an unseen storybook, a smile tugging at your lips.


	9. Chapter 9

The days continued to pass by, and honestly you couldn't remember the last time you were this content with everyday events. Your daily meetings with Bakugou were always something to look forward to, the expectation of learning more about him or just enjoying his company placing an unconscious smile on your lips.

As you sat on the pier, Bakugou laying next to you with arms folded behind his head, the distant sound of rolling thunder caught your attention.

"Shit…looks like it's gonna rain soon," you mumbled, turning your head towards the darkening horizon as grey clouds shifted slowly above the water far in the distance.

"Rain…" Bakugou mimed. "Sky water?" You chuckled at his simple yet accurate description. "You don't like it?"

"I like the rain. The sound is nice and comforting, and the smell after it rains is always refreshing. I feel like I always sleep better when it rains…but I don't want to get wet. Unlike you, I don't live in the water."

The merman sat up, stretching his arms above his head; he had the body of an Olympic swimmer, lithe and lean and overwhelmingly muscular. You kept your eyes trained in the opposite direction towards the incoming storm clouds so he wouldn't catch you staring.

"Do you swim?" he asked, voice less than a foot away from your ear. "Other humans swim…but you don't." A webbed finger poked the hollow of your cheek to pull your attention back towards him. If there was one thing you learned about Bakugou so far, he enjoyed being the center of attention…at least when it came to you. You'd never seen any other merpeople, so he might be completely different around his own kind; however, considering your current awareness of his background and why he's currently alone, the topic of "home" was one you consciously avoided.

"Hah…uh…" You averted eye contact as you slapped his hand away, pulling him by the fingers down to the damp wood. He let you without objection, not taking his hand away from yours. "I don't…know how?" The words came out in a squeak.

A flabbergasted look immediately appeared on his face before he lurched forward, his eyes glued to yours. "You can't swim?!"

You mentally cursed, hoping he didn't think less of you for being untrained in something that came so naturally to him. "…No?"

Bakugou scoffed, folding his arms across his chest before smirking confidently at you. "I can teach." Holding up your hands defensively, you shook your head, nerves building in your stomach.

"Uh, no that's OK! At least not today…maybe some other time…" you muttered. Bakugou's expression fell into borderline annoyance.

"Tch…fine." Arms still crossed his ruby eyes shifted away from you out towards the darkening horizon, the occasional flash of lightning highlighting the shift of waves against ocean winds.

"What's that look for? I didn't say 'no.' Just…not today."

He took a minute to reply, but when he did, his eyes remained on the sea. "You give me food, teach words…" Jaw clenched tightly and brows furrowed, he ground out his next words like rough sandpaper. "I give you nothing."

His response caught you off-guard, honestly. He seemed to feel agitated that you spent time with him and gave him things of your own free will, while he did all of the take and none of the give. Maybe he felt like a charity case, offering no exchange of goods for what you provided. While he did love being spoiled with fish and new information, Bakugou wanted things to feel more equal; this realization made you smile.

"That's not true, though," you replied, playfully flicking him on the nose, hand retreating before he could swat it away. "You give me your company, your attention-" pausing, you felt a single drop of water on your cheek. The rain was coming. "I don't need a lot, so don't feel bad." Another drop, and another. "Shit, I better go." As you stood up to gather your things Bakugou turned to look at you, unfazed by the incoming storm. "If it's not raining I'll be back tomorrow."

He opened his mouth to speak but you quickly gave him a pat on the head, ruffling his hair affectionately as the rain pelted the pier, leaving dark brown spots. The growl in his throat faded away as Bakugou watched you jog down the pier towards your home before he slid off the pier and into the water, disappearing quickly under a blanket of dark blues and greens, the beginnings of an idea forming in his head as he swam.

The next day started like any other as you arrived at work, slogging through paperwork and answering questions everyone on your team should already know the answer to. It felt particularly slow, so you were excited to head back to the beach that evening and spend time with the one individual that managed to continually brighten your days.

Though the air was crisp with the smell of rain from the previous day as you walked from your apartment down the street towards the pier, the sun dipped low across the ocean, sky clear of dark clouds or looming thunder.

You dangled your feet over the edge of the pier, grabbing a bag of snacks from your bag. Despite loving seafood, you needed a break from the constant bombardment of fish since you usually grabbed two orders of whatever you brought for Bakugou that day.

Half an hour passed by, and you were still alone.

The consistency of his appearances lulled you into a routine, a sense of expectation bubbling at the back of your mind as you sat on the salt-stained wood. He always showed up, so you waited.

After nearly two hours of scanning the endless sea, hands fidgeting in your lap, you resigned that he wasn't coming. A worrying feeling in your gut made you anxious, but you pushed through it, gathering up your things and heading home, your shadow bouncing off the pavement from overhead street lamps buzzing like white noise.

Stepping through your front door and tossing off your shoes the couch looked particularly inviting in that moment as you eased yourself onto the cushions with a groan. Soft kitty paws made their way onto your stomach, kneading biscuits into your shirt.

"Mmm…I wonder where he is," you questioned out loud. "He always shows up…I hope…oh no-" A terrifying idea struck you as you sat upright, your cat flopping to the ground with an annoyed 'meow.' Grabbing your laptop from the side table you opened it quickly and typed out a string of keywords, scanning the search results of the past twenty-four hours for anything suspicious.

"Mermaids…merman…merpeople," you muttered, trying different words and combinations. "Mysterious, fish-man, creature…ugh, shit. Nothing." You breathed out a sigh of relief; the results were just as empty compared to when you first met Bakugou, at first unconvinced of the reality of the existence of merpeople. "So it seems like he's kept himself hidden…or if he was caught it hasn't hit the news yet. He's smart, and it's just one day, I'm sure everything's fine. I can ask him tomorrow where he swam off to."

Tomorrow came, and again you were alone, the second container of extra spicy sushi unopened.

You walked home in a daze, eyes unfocused as you moved along the same familiar sidewalk towards your apartment. He'd been absent for two days, though it honestly felt much longer as time passed slowly like a train struggling against rails covered in snow and ice, sluggish and heavy.

Once safely inside your apartment, you set the untouched sushi in your fridge before slumping against the closed door, sliding down to the cold kitchen tiles, forearms like lead on your knees, head hung low as your throat closed tightly and your lips pursed together in a tight line.

"What if he doesn't come back?" your voice a whisper in the quiet apartment, eyelashes damp and vision blurry. Before you lost hold of yourself, you cleared your throat and stood up from the kitchen floor before slumping into the couch and turning on the TV, wanting a mindless distraction for a while.

"I'm being dumb…he wouldn't just leave without at least saying 'goodbye' right?" you asked to no one, though the purring cat in your lap meowed as if in response. "See? I am right. He liked the big cats in the animal book, I wonder what he'd think of you…? Not like I can bring him here, my bathtub is a pathetic substitute for the ocean, it'd feel like a prison, probably. He doesn't like artificial light anyway." The buzz of the TV in the background was nothing more than static as you talked to yourself in an attempt to stay positive and not dwell on upsetting possibilities.

The water below the pier remained empty the next day, and the day after that, each passing sunset mocking you, reflecting the colors of his hair, his eyes, his tail like an unreachable imitation. You tossed away the stale sushi in a nearby trash can.

Sitting up in the cool sheets of your bed, you continued to check local news sites for keywords and bizarre articles, but they continued yielding useless results. Your head hit the pillow, flat from years of use, but you couldn't fall asleep with so many unanswered questions running through your mind.

"Did I do something wrong?" you asked to the darkness of your bedroom, knowing no one would answer back. "Did I say something to offend him, finally? What…why am I so torn up over this? What does he mean to me?"

The question hung in the air like fog - an answer just beyond your reach - obscured by your own insecurities and unwillingness to admit harsh truths. What did he mean to you?

Drifting off to sleep in the loneliness of your bedroom, you dreamed of darkness, expansive and endless and suffocating, a black hole sucking in every trace of light that slipped through your grasping fingers as easily as water. A single speck of red - miniscule, flickering, nearly overpowered by encroaching obscurity - sat in the middle of the void far out of reach. Floating freely through a slog of smallness, tethered to nothing but your own sense of isolation, no one grasped your hand.

Everything felt dim, desaturated, and sluggish as you made it to work. Apparently the weight of unanswered questions and resurfacing insecurities was obvious even to your normally oblivious coworkers as they prodded you with intrusive questions which you brushed off, showering them with the familiar mask of smiles and fake laughter. The routine was returning.

You stood at the edge of the pier not bothering to sit down, leaning against one of the wooden corner pillars, hands in your pockets and eyes unfocused as you listened to the water lapping against wood and rocks beneath your feet. The surface remained still and unbroken, the occasional floating piece of garbage leftover from uncaring tourists tracing the edges of your peripheral vision. After just half an hour you left and made your way home.

Taking out an old notebook you sat on the couch ignoring the whines of your cat who vied for your attention between your feet. "Not now…" you muttered, scribbling words down as they came to you without any sense of order or category.

Strong

Smart

Smartass

Prankster

Sleepy

Beautiful

Protective

Gentle

Prideful

Scared

Ethereal

Red

With a sigh you dropped the pen, running your fingers through your hair as you scanned over the list of words, any description that came to mind when you thought of Bakugou. The weight of the question "What is he…to me?" clung to the back of your mind like barnacles to an unsuspecting whale.

"Shit…" you cursed, biting your lip and shutting your eyes tightly as you willed away a far-off idea; no, not idea, a curse more than anything. "What am I doing, fawning over a man with a fucking fish tail…" Tossing the list aside your head fell heavily into the palms of your hands. "But all that stuff he said and did, told me about, it couldn't have been for nothing, right?"

Indeed, Bakugou had warmed up to you greatly since your first meeting, going from spitting water in your face and stealing your food to falling asleep in your lap and listening to you read to him. He also revealed to you his past and why he was alone, why he left his home, and why he chose you to reveal himself to. He didn't seem like the type to overshare or divulge anything vulnerable about himself without a sense of trust and acceptance for who he was, flaws and all…so why did he leave without at least saying goodbye?

You scoffed, standing up from the couch to make some tea. Without an answer to your questions you turned cynical, dismissing the growing feelings for the merman and replacing them with ideas of selfishness as you tried to protect your heart from further grief. "Probably just visits for free food, or an excuse to not be lonely for a while…maybe he found someone else to hang out with, someone more interesting. Or maybe he went back home, maybe they forgave him…" Your voice trailed off, fingers brushing against a mug in the cabinet, jaw clenching as you swallowed hard. "He should…be home. With his own kind. Yeah…"

The tea was uncharacteristically bitter when it hit your tongue, and despite telling yourself it was for the best that he stopped showing up at the pier, your pillow was stained with dried tears by the time you finally fell asleep.

A little over a week passed without sight nor sound from Bakugou, and despite the pangs of familiar loneliness and heartache creeping back in to replace the satisfaction and happiness he'd brought into your life, you pushed him to the side in an attempt to continue on without him, convinced he wouldn't return. You couldn't escape the color red, though.

A stop sign. Strawberries at the corner store. Your coworker's coffee mug. All bright and jarring as they conjured mental images of his eyes like rubies glistening in an endless expanse that saw right into your soul. Try as hard as you might, you couldn't escape the bombardment of crimson.

The sky outside turned grey, foreshadowing an incoming storm over the sea as you rode the bus home. As if pulled by an invisible string tickling the back of your neck, you suddenly yanked the cord to stop the bus and get off several miles away from your apartment. The bus drove away as you crossed the street towards the recognizable pier, the beach on either side empty as thunder echoed far off beyond the horizon.

You slowed your steps as you closed in on the wooden planks. There was no reason to think he'd be here today compared to the previous day, or the day before that…it was just a feeling that urged you forward. Finally reaching the end of the pier you stopped and looked down with a frown seeing only still and empty water. With fists clenched tightly you turned to walk away but only made it a few steps before hearing a splash.

"(Y/N)!" a familiar voice called out, making you stop mid-stride. Your throat felt restricted, fingernails digging into your palms as you slowly turned around and walked - again - towards the end of the pier to meet the open ocean.

Your breath hitched as you saw Bakugou bobbing in the dark choppy water, ashe blonde hair and red eyes contrasting sharply against the blues, greens and blacks that surrounded him. He smiled when he saw you, but you didn't return the favor.

"I have-" He started to speak but you cut him off.

"…Where have you been?" you finally asked, the words almost caught in your throat, thick with ache and longing. "I thought…you might not have come back."

Bakugou bobbed up and down in the dark water, looking up at you with brows pulled together tightly and a inquiring look as his smile faded. "How long…?" he muttered, not understanding why you seemed upset.

Your lips parted at his question. "Do you not know how long you were gone? How long you've been away?" His wet hair, heavy against his brow, swung back and forth as he shook his head side to side. "Shit…over a week. About ten days." Holding up your hands to him, you mimed the numbers on your fingers, watching his eyes widen as he mentally calculated the number. He understood what days were considering he appeared everyday consistently at roughly the same time, following the natural cycle of the sun and moon rather than a clock.

His eyes fixated on you when he spoke, the rippling waves and threat of the incoming storm far from his mind. "I didn't…know," he said, voice low and laced with guilt at the realization that he'd kept you waiting far longer than he'd intended, days merging together seamlessly underwater. "No light…no sun…"

It took a minute to gather your composure, running a hand through your hair, breaking eye contact to look out into the dark horizon, the occasional spark of lighting cascading across ominous clouds and choppy waters. "I'm…" You bit your lip, wondering if you should say it, put it out there, lay yourself bare and raw and open and vulnerable. Taking a shaky breath, filing your lungs with the damp, humid, salty air of the ocean, you spoke. "I missed you. Which probably sounds stupid? I dunno but whatever, I did. You've become an important part of my life in a short amount of time and I just…I look forward to when we hang out and I have fun with you and then you just…stopped showing up one day. And I didn't know why." Your voice was cracking but you couldn't stop.

Bakugou was silent as he listened to your words; maybe he didn't understand all of them, but you hoped he gathered the general idea: that when he wasn't there, when you didn't see him, you were sad.

"I thought…maybe you got bored of me?" you continued, letting out a self-deprecating chuckle, a hand coming up to gesture at yourself. "Maybe I said something stupid that made you mad or upset so you decided to leave…or maybe other humans found you and took you away?" Just the idea of Bakugou being kidnapped, poked and examined by the worst of humanity in a revolting attempt at learning new information in the name of science made your skin crawl. "I made a lot of assumptions because you didn't even say 'goodbye' and I thought..fuck, I'm so dumb."

After what seemed like an eternity Bakugou swam closer to the pier, paying no mind to the threatening clouds and echoes of thunder in the distance. "I'm here now," he replied, voice solid and unwavering and real. Bakugou growled before disappearing under the water for a moment, reappearing in front of you as he leapt from the water and caught himself on the edge of the pier. "I'm here. Not alone. I come back." Despite the dark atmosphere and the tired look in his normally sparkling eyes, Bakugou shone brightly.

He thrust his hand forward, holding something out to you. "This…why I was away." Apprehension and worry coated his face as he offered up the object. You stepped forward and bent down in front of Bakugou, holding out your palm as he placed the object gently in your hand, his fingers glancing across your skin like a whisper before pulling away.

Turning the cool wet object between your fingers you realized it was a large oyster, oddly shaped and textured it smelled heavily of salt and old, deep water. You looked from the mollusk to the merman still perched on the edge of the damp wood, his expression

"What is this for?" you asked, wondering why he spent so much time looking for something so common. "Is it a gift? Or-"

He interrupted, hoping to convey what he wanted with is limited vocabulary. "Humans take these, I see them…but don't find best ones." You nodded, telling him you understood what he meant. "Yes…gift. Open it." His fingers dug into the palm of his hand, shoulders hunched and tense as you pried the oyster apart.

You almost fell over, throat dry and eyes wide as you opened the shell. The meaty inside couldn't cover up the handful of large, perfectly round pearls that sat in the middle. Jewelry wasn't really something you knew much about, but the value of something like this didn't escape you. Unfortunately, Bakugou interpreted your expression as one of disgust rather than shock.

"You don't…?" he muttered, face contorting into anger, though directed at you or at himself you weren't sure.

"Wait! Wait uh, shit. I'm not mad, I'm keeping it," you spat out quickly, hoping to dispel whatever irritation was bubbling to the surface. "Just so I understand…this is a gift. For me. From you?"

He seemed to calm down at your words before nodding, eyes cut to the side to avoid your stare, the rough ocean breeze of the incoming storm fanning his damp hair against his brow. At this you couldn't keep the heat from rising to your cheeks all the way to your ears; by human standards something like this would go for a lot of money, though the thought of selling it didn't cross your mind at all. From what you could gather, he'd apparently observed humans diving and fishing for oysters at some point and concluded that they were valuable in some way; maybe merpeople used them as well, seeing the beautiful pearls as something other than a byproduct of the mollusks. He'd considered what you - a human - might treasure from the ocean. Your hand was shaking considering the thoughtful gesture feeling overwhelmingly foolish at your assumption that he'd disappeared from your life.

"OK…" You cleared your throat, trying to get a grip on yourself, ideas flying rapidly as you only guessed at the reason for the gift. "But…what's it for? Why give it to me?" Another question made itself audible before you could stop yourself. "Bakugou…what am I to you?" It echoed the questioned you asked yourself days prior; though you were still figuring it out you couldn't deny he was important to you…but what did you mean to him?

A particularly loud roll of thunder caught his attention, turning his head towards the endless expanse of blackened waves. He seemed to mull over the questions carefully, avoiding your stare before finally lifting himself up onto the pier and sat with his back to you. He didn't turn as he spoke.

"You…nice. To me." His voice was laced with subtle frustration as he struggled to find the right words to say, either from a lack of expansive vocabulary or exposing the bare honesty of feeling grateful to someone for something indescribable. "You help me…not be alone. Not scared of me." Though you couldn't see his face, whatever assumed expression he made from his words tightened a knot in your gut. "(y/n)…" he continued, your name heavy on his tongue, careful and delicate with every syllable. "You…friend." You watched the muscles in his arms strain as he gripped the edge of the pier, the stress of openly admitting something so commonplace for most people feeling like a crushing weight of expectation, of vulnerability, of longing for the company of another.

Now you were even, a gift to rival - and overshadow - all of yours.

Silently, you made your way to the end of the pier, sitting down next to Bakugou but careful not to touch him or get too close, afraid of startling the moment. You turned the oyster over in your hands, memorizing the ridges and grooves under the skin of your thumb.

"Friends," you mirrored, mulling over the word, trying to decipher whether or not his and your definitions were the same. "Do you usually give gifts like this to friends?"

Bakugou scoffed, finally cutting his red eyes to look at you sharply. "If you not want-"

"Didn't I just say I did want it?" You held the oyster off to the side so he couldn't attempt to grab it back. "So, answer the question." He stubbornly crossed his arms, the mood finally starting to lighten for the first time since your reunion.

"Maybe," he spat out through gritted teeth in a badly hidden lie. The lightest touch of pink dusting his cheeks made you chuckle; which in turn made him groan.

You elbowed him in the arm before another roar of far-off thunder caught your attention as a single drop of water hit your cheek. "Thank you, Bakugou. I mean it. You're stubborn and full of sass and attitude, but I enjoy sitting out here with you everyday. You're my friend, too." At that, he finally turned to look at you, something hidden and breathtaking behind those ruby eyes. You'd gotten used to his near-overwhelming beauty by this point, but every once in a while he gave you a look that sent chills down your spine and caused your breath to hitch in your throat and your face to flush; he gave you that look now.

"A-anyway," you managed to stutter out, averting your eyes so you could actually speak properly after clearing your throat. "I'm…glad you're back. Things felt kind of empty with you gone…Sorry, I thought you weren't coming back, seems like a pretty shitty thing to think now. Just…say 'goodbye' if you plan on leaving again, alright?"

"I won't leave," Bakugou said, still staring at you, words punctual and confident. A cool hand came up to cup your chin, turning your head so you couldn't avoid his near-overwhelming gaze. "Promise."

Something urged you forward, and before you realized it, your arms were around his neck, an overwhelming urge to feel him, to be close, to hear his gasp against your ear as the longing for contact overpowered everything else. His skin was cool to the touch, his muscles tense, his hair damp by your cheek as his hands palmed your torso in sudden response. He smelled strongly of the sea, of salt and water and fish and - surprisingly - of firewood, as if he'd just stamped out a campfire, remnants of smoke lingering like burning embers. You thought he'd push you away…but he didn't. After a moment, the tension started to fade and his hands wrapped slowly around you, unsure and questioning. Up to this point, you'd always let him initiate physical contact, not wanting to scare him off or move too far away from assumed boundaries. His chin settled into your neck, the weight of him real and physical as you felt him breathe against you. A raindrop hit your cheek, your hand clutched tightly around the gift of pearls.

Bakugou was first to break the silence. "Friends…do this?" You felt his throat bob against your collar bone, vibrating you to your very core. The irony of the question wasn't lost on you, thinking to just moments before when you asked if friends gave friends extravagant gifts.

"Maybe…sometimes," you whispered into his damp hair, suddenly very aware of how close he was before you attempted to pull away, clearing your throat as you unwound your arms from around his neck awkwardly. Another drop of rain, then two, then three dripped down your arm. He didn't loosen his grip, preventing you from backing away.

"Uh…" you mumbled, cheek still pressed against the side of his own. Your hands settled on his strong shoulders, fingers grazing gently over the scattered orange and gold scales. "How many oysters did you look through to find this one?" You hoped a question might break the awkwardness of the position.

His fingers moved against the back of your shirt, drumming into your skin. "A lot," he finally answered, feeling him smirk against your neck. The rain was light now, a sign that you should get going before you were completely soaked.

"I'm glad you're back," you couldn't help but say as you felt your heart beating rapidly in your chest. "But uh…I have to go, damn rain…"

Reluctantly, he loosened his grip around you, unhooking his chin from your shoulder. Faces only inches apart, his gaze could swallow you whole if you let it, but you forced yourself to pull away. "I'll be here tomorrow, if you will…?"

Bakugou nodded. "Tomorrow." With the oyster clutched tightly in your hand you stood up, face and hair now wet from the rain as it came down harder with each passing minute.

"Dammit rain..! OK, tomorrow it is then! You better be here!" You yelled back as you started running, your free hand waving back towards Bakugou as the other held tightly onto his gift. He waved back, composed against the water that pelted down on his skin before diving down off the pier and disappearing below a sea of black.

Silent words formed on his hips, a promise to you - and to himself - that he would always return, and that red would come up to embrace you.


	10. Chapter 10

Bakugou kept his promise by returning to you everyday - at least on the days when you were the only one on the pier, otherwise he remained at a safe distance. Having him back in your life, as dramatic as that sounded, felt like the air returned to your lungs after being stifled by the possibility of reverting back to an existence without Bakugou. Luckily, he returned the feelings of contentment, settling back into a routine of laying in your lap as you answered his endless questions about mundane human activities or gently purring as you ran fingers through his damp hair.

After he'd gifted you with the oyster of pearls, you'd decided to just go with the flow and let things continue naturally and organically. If something else came up, you'd deal with it…but until then, you were content at knowing he thought of you as a friend - if there was more to it he kept that to himself, as did you - and recognized that he meant something to you, and you to him.

You'd also caved in on your curiosity and researched pearls, wondering exactly how much the misshapen mollusk was worth once you removed them all from the shell after it started to smell - though you cleaned it thoroughly and kept it on your bedside table. The cat sitting pleasantly in your lap hissed violently as you loudly cursed after doing some mental math with the help of some reference images and research websites.

"HOLY FUCK I COULD…THAT MUCH?! I could buy a new car with that!" If the websites were right, it was indeed a lot of money contained in the gift. "Fuck, I gotta buy him some nice sushi now…"

Despite the large sum, you knew the pearls wouldn't leave the safety of the inconspicuous box hidden in your sock drawer; they held too much emotional attachment to ever sell them, and you'd never forgive yourself if they were misplaced or stolen. Every once in a while you'd take them out to look at, smiling as they rolled around in the palm of your hand while thinking of all the effort Bakugou went through to find what he deemed the "best" out of all the oysters…and they were only for you.

Once things settled back down after his return, he also questioned you constantly about

teaching you to swim. You assumed it was yet another attempt on his part to even the odds in gift exchanges - though the pearls wholly overshadowed anything you'd given him already…or maybe he wanted to laugh at your pathetic attempts at swimming, flailing your arms like a wounded animal in stark contrast to his easy and graceful movements. Maybe it was a fear of looking moronic in front of Bakugou, or self-conscious at the prospect of wearing a bathing suit in front of him considering you weren't in the best shape of your life and he was, well, ripped as hell to put it mildly. You weren't unattractive by your own standards, but an extra trip to the gym wouldn't hurt. As insistent as he was, you continued to turn him down despite feeling guilty every time he hoisted himself out of the water for your sake while you hadn't dipped your toes in the ocean once.

After a while he seemed to get the hint that you'd accept his offer when you were ready, so he stopped pressing the issue. His pouty face was difficult to resist, though, making your eye twitch and your teeth grind knowing you'd give in sooner rather than later.

The day started as any other as you made your way to work and slogged through the familiar paperwork, the sounds of tapping keyboards and beeping printers echoing past your headphones. You'd finally taken the initiative to start looking for a new job the previous night - something more exciting, more within your field of interest - when you'd responded to several job listings in the area. Of course, you kept this a secret from everyone at the office knowing they might snitch to upper management and could easily let you go, leaving you unemployed until something solid rolled in.

Checking your email quickly after work yielded no replies yet, but only a day had passed so there was still plenty of time to look around and wait for an answer. As you changed out of your work clothes for something more beach-appropriate and comfortable, you dug through one of your drawers to find an old bathing suit - never worn, tags still hanging off the end.

"Ugh…how old is this?" you asked yourself, pulling it out of the drawer. Your clothing tastes had changed over the years, and this looked honestly hideous to you now. "Well, if he keeps bugging me about it I guess that's an excuse to go shopping for something new." Tossing the swimwear back into the drawer, you grabbed your backpack and Bakugou's dinner from the fridge before locking the door and heading down the familiar path towards the beach.

You leaned back on the warm wood, sitting comfortably on the pier, the familiar smell of the ocean filling your nose as your foot dangled lazily over the edge with the other tucked under you as you looked out at the slowly setting sun in the distance. It didn't take long for Bakugou to show up, but immediately you knew something was wrong, his expression one of anger and frustration as you met his gaze looking up at you from the water.

"Bakugou? What's the-"

"Get it off!" he nearly yelled, pulling his tail out of the water to show you the reason behind his exasperated expression. Wrapped around the end of his tail, winding in and out of his fins was a long strand of fishing line, tangled with knots and loops. He growled, obviously irate as his arms struggled against the line in an attempt to unwind it, but you knew it wouldn't break easily even for him.

"Fuck! Shit.." you gasped seeing the line digging into his scales and cutting into his hands as he tried to rip it off. "Can you get up here? I can try and get it off, OK?" Calling over the edge of the pier you dug in your backpack quickly, cursing to yourself as you looked for something sharp that could cut the line. "C'mon, c'mon…fuck, yes!" Your hand clutched around a small pocket knife covered in bits of dust from the bottom of your bag, rarely used since scissors were usually available when needed. Looking up at a thud next to you, Bakugou managed to pull himself up onto the pier, lifting his tail towards you, hands still clenched around a long loop of line trying to break it.

"Stop! Stop, you can't break it, it's meant to be cut, not broken," you said quickly, holding up your free hand for him to stop struggling. His breathing was ragged and he looked almost rabid, fangs visible and eyes like fire, a stark contrast from his normal demeanor. Looking down, you saw the line digging into his hands and…red, a slight tinge of crimson marking his fingers and – eyes following down – the end of his tail as well. He was bleeding. "J-just hold still, I'm going to cut it off. Don't move."

You moved closer, sitting next to him while trying to calm him down. Taking a piece of line in your hand, you brought the small knife closer, though Bakugou it made to move away from the blade. "Hey! Shh it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to cut it so we can pull it off…" The stress of the situation was making him angry, so you had to go about this carefully. Your hand came down to his tail and patted it gently in an attempt to soothe him, your heart beating wildly at the idea that he was in pain from human trash.

He looked at you with eyes wide with panic and furrowed brows, but after a moment they softened as he let go of the twine in his hands, leaving behind horizontal indents and watered-down blood. Nodding, he finally muttered, "Trust you, " which you took as an invitation to start cutting.

You worked tediously, pulling small strand after strand away and placing it in your backpack to throw away properly. Some of his scales were ripped off – you were extra gentle around those areas – and there was a small tear in his tail fin, making him wince as you peeled the fishing line away. It took about fifteen agonizing minutes to finally remove all the line as you let out a heavy sigh and tossed the knife into your bag, zipping it up and sealing away the litter created by carelessness and a lack of respect for the ocean and those that used it as their home.

"Alright…I got it all…Bakugou..?" You looked up to see his detached expression, ruby eyes looking down at the the fading marks in the palms of his hands before deviating to his tail, skipping between old scars and new ones. Suddenly, his face returned to one of livid anger as he looked up at you.

"Why humans do this?" he spat out, arm gesturing out towards the open ocean. "Throw it here?!"

His outburst – as justified as it was – startled you. Unfortunately, you didn't have a satisfactory answer for him. "I don't know…humans can be very bad sometimes. They don't think what they do will hurt others, but that's obviously not true…" your voice trailed off as you placed one hand gingerly on his tail, fingers tracing around a new wound created from the twine. Bakugou flinched, but didn't move away. "I'm sorry, for what humans do. It's cruel, not just to you but to everything living in the ocean. And you suffer for it and, fucking hell-" now you were getting upset, feeding off the irritation radiating from him like steam. "You're hurt and it's stupid!"

A clawed hand suddenly lurched forward and grabbed you by the front of your shirt before pulling you to him like a magnet, the other arm coming up to wrap around your arms, his chin settling at the juncture where your neck met your shoulders. You felt his chest rise and fall shakily against your own, adjusting to the sudden closeness as your hands awkwardly fell to either side of his tail, palms flat against damp wood grain.

"Not mad…at you. You help. Others shit, but you good." Your foul mouth was finally paying off as he mirrored your curses, picking up on context clues and meanings over time. Though you couldn't see his face, you felt his jaw tense against your shoulder as he scoffed. "More scars…"

You abruptly pulled back from his grip – one of his hands still on your shirt, the other out to the side in surprise – and smashed his cheeks between the palms of your hands and stared him right in the eyes. His expression was one of shock at the sudden movement, eyes wide and mouth ajar as you spoke. "Listen to me. Whatever happens, whether it's from some dumb shark or stupid humans, no scars or _whatever_ will make you less valuable as an individual, or less handsome, or less important. Understand?" It took a moment to register your own words, the thought of wanting to build him back up to his normal proud self overpowering any shame or embarrassment.

This was the second time you'd seen him blush, taken aback by the onslaught of words.

"Handsome…?" Bakugou questioned, the word unfamiliar on his tongue, though he seemed to recognize the majority of your words as praise on his behalf. You bit the inside of your cheek hard enough to to make you twitch at how utterly and completely stupid you were to let your train of thought flow so freely. Sure, of course he was handsome, beautiful, sublime even in appearance; but you'd never openly admitted to any of them - besides calling his tail "pretty" not long after you'd met - keeping any attraction locked away tightly as you figured out your feelings, debating whether or not to even vocalize the idea of _falling head over heels to a man with a fish tail._

His free hand came up to grab your wrist as you were about to pull away from his face. "What does it mean?" You cursed his strength as he held you in place with a piercing gaze just inches from your own.

"N-nothing! It means uh.." You mumbled, trying to think of some quick lie to satisfy him. "It means you're…smart!"

He narrowed his eyes at your hesitant answer. "Why not say 'smart'…?" You could see the gears turning in his head, brows furrowed; well, at least he wasn't angry anymore. This was a battle you weren't going to win knowing he'd figured out you were trying to weasel out of a definition when you freely offered information at every opportunity. "Tell me…" he demanded through gritted teeth.

"Dammit…it means good-looking!" you finally admitted. Everything fell eerily silent as the words left your mouth, looking at Bakugou through squinted eyes for a reaction. It didn't take long to register his expression, but when it did his mouth split into a shit-eating grin, fangs glistening and eyes full of mischief.

"I'm handsome!" he declared proudly as you finally pulled your hands away from his face. You groaned, knowing Bakugou was exactly the type to dangle this admission over your head every chance he got, enjoying your flustered face; though he'd toned down the bombardment of pranks that littered your early meetings and conversations, he still savored your mild annoyance at his occasional antics of tickling or flicking water in your face.

"Yeah, yeah…god dammit," you sighed with resignation, but didn't get a chance to lament your confession before Bakugou pulled your face towards his again, countenance revealing his inflated ego.

"You think I'm handsome…" Bakugou's voice dropped a noticeable octave, the smirk on his face suiting his features far more than it should as your face felt uncharacteristically warm in his hand. "Even with…?" Looking from you back down towards his tail, his expression fell slightly, confidence waning as red eyes flitted to the new wounds that would take time to heal.

Just as he picked up on your vocabulary, you'd adopted some of his idiosyncrasies as well, scoffing under his grip. "They make you look badass and strong, like you've been in a bunch of fights. They're the opposite of ugly." At this he perked back up, letting go of your face to cross his arms over his puffed-out chest.

Though, you were grateful for the change in attitude - you'd much rather have Bakugou smug and happy than angry and frustrated - it was still incredibly embarrassing knowing he was now aware you thought he was physically attractive…especially since he was now flexing for you, showing off his strong arm and back muscles, smirking and eyeing you knowingly as your cheeks burned.

"You better stop before I shove you off this pier," you spit out through gritted teeth, cutting your eyes away from the handsome merman.

"Tch, you not do that."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

The challenge was now on the table, and you accepted hoping to knock him back down a peg. Leaning forward, you shoved him - just a little - towards the edge of the pier. His smirk remained as he adjusted his tail to hang off the pier and pushed your shoulder in retaliation. It was turning into a shoving match, you both pushing and pulling on each other as his eyes lit up with amusement.

"Just…! You sneaky shit!" One of his hands was mashed against your face, the other stretching out the neck of your shirt while you pushed on his shoulder, the other on his wrist trying to wrestle it away from you.

The main problem with this struggle was that you'd forgotten how strong - and cunning - he was.

Bakugou's expression faltered for only a second before returning to the familiar mischievous smirk. Before you knew what was happening, he started to tilt sideways, never taking his eyes off you as his weight started to pull you forward, his grip on your shirt never loosening.

"N-no Bakugou no..!" you quickly sputtered against the palm of his hand that halfway covered your mouth after realizing his plan.

"Yes… _we swim_!" was the last thing he said as he toppled over the edge of the pier, dragging you with him.

"FUCKING SH-!"

Your words were cut off as you hit the water, suddenly completely surrounded by bubbles and darkness and disorienting movement. You couldn't breathe, no words came out as you opened your mouth, feeling burning water shoot up your nose and down your throat, hands grasping at nothing as your clothes weighed you down, panic hitting you like a suffocating nightmare.

A hand grasped your wrist, and pulled you towards the light.

As soon as your head sprang free of the water, you immediately started coughing, trying to suck in a breath of air while expelling the water in your nose and lungs as a pair of arms wrapped around your torso held you in place. Salt stung your eyes until you blinked most of it out, wincing as you attempted to regain your senses.

"You safe," a husky, familiar voice whispered in your ear. Looking down through the water, you saw an orange, black, and gold tail swishing beneath you while your own legs floated like limp noodles. You slowly came down from the fear of thinking you were about to drown knowing that Bakugou held you with a firm grip. It did little to abate your agitation, though.

"You… _asshole_! Pulling me into the fucking water, you sneaky bastard…" His chest pressed against your back, sturdy and unbending. You felt the vibrations as he laughed lightly in your ear.

"You took too long." Floating easily, weightless as the water lapped against your arms and chest, you sighed heavily suddenly feeling very tired.

"I don't know if you've noticed at any point, but humans wear special clothes for swimming. These clothes I'm wearing now? They're heavy and hard to move in, you ding-dong." A webbed hand poised on your stomach pulled at the fabric experimentally, watching over your shoulder as it moved sluggishly through the water.

"Why wear clothes? I not wear clothes." He started to lift up your shirt but you quickly slapped his hands away - as quick as you could underwater, anyway - until they settled back down on top of your shirt.

"I have to wear clothes! God dammit, don't ask why I just do, alright?" Differences in anatomy and the human custom of modesty that animals - and merpeople - ignored was not a conversation you wanted to get into right now. Before he could protest, an unfamiliar voice disturbed the two of you.

"Um, hello?" the voice asked from somewhere, unseen above you on the pier.

"Fuck, shit-" you cursed. "You need to hide!" Bakugou understood as he quickly pushed you forward through the water to awkwardly grab hold of one of the pillars supporting the pier before disappearing silently under the veil of darkness. Hardly a moment later, two strangers appeared above the pier to look down at you.

"We, uh, heard splashing and yelling over here! Are you alright down there?" a woman above you asked. She had short hair the color of cotton candy with contrasting eyes as dark as coal.

"Of course not, no one takes a leisurely swim this far away from the beach, Ashido," the other woman responded. She looked less friendly with dark purple hair cut sharp below her jawline.

The woman apparently named Ashido shrugged. "I dunno! Maybe some people do?"

"Um, hi," you projected, looking up at the two strangers. "I f-fell…yeah, I fell off the pier on accident!" The lie was terrible but it was the best you could come up with in the moment as your eyes darted quickly under the pier to see Bakugou peering at you, hidden from view in the shadows.

"Yeah, we figured something like that. Why the hell isn't there a ladder or something over here…? Whatever," the purple-haired woman muttered more to herself than to you. "Do you need help or not?"

Looking quickly between Bakugou and the two women, you made up your mind to accept their help considering the circumstances. You were still pissed at him for pulling him into the water, and this might be your only chance to get out while avoiding an argument knowing how stubborn he was. "Do you guys mind? I can't swim very well."

"Are we strong enough, Jirou?"

"Ashido, you're stronger than I am, so you would know."

With a determined look on her face, Ashido pumped her fist in the air, looking like she was ready for a fight, making you second guess your decision. You were so focused on the strangers you didn't notice Bakugou staring daggers at you, eyes hovering just above the water's surface.

The two women bent down over the pier and extended their hands towards you, just like when you helped the woman up weeks ago. Your wet skin made grabbing a proper hold difficult, but eventually they hoisted you up out of the water as you plopped onto the wood like a floundering fish, clothes drenched and heavy.

"Jirou…we did it…we're heroes!" Ashido cheered, looking over at her friend who seemed less enthusiastic.

"If you say so…hey, you." Jirou called out, catching your attention. You looked up, meeting her stern eyes. "You OK?"

You nodded, scratching the back of your neck awkwardly. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Thanks for helping me up."

"Oh no problem! It's lucky we came along. What're you doing out here anyway? The beach is pretty empty this time of day." The woman with bubble gum hair looked at you as she stood up and brushed herself off.

Another quick lie made its way onto your tongue - tell the truth but tell it slant. "Oh, I just enjoy the time alone sometimes…it's calm out here without anyone around. Just slipped up today and fell into the water, is all." You hoped they wouldn't question you further and just leave you alone.

"I can understand the sentiment, though Ashido here is a social butterfly," Jirou said, thumb pointing over to her friend. "Well, if that's about it we'll be on our way. You uh…probably should change clothes."

"I dunno, Jirou…I don't mind the view." You felt your face warm as she looked at you with a flirtatious twinkle lighting up her dark eyes.

"Ashido, do you flirt with literally anyone within talking distance? I apologize on her behalf."

"Only the cute ones!" she answered with a wink in your direction.

You coughed, glancing away from her direction. "I'm uh, flattered but I'm seeing someone…sorry." This felt like less of a lie than the others, honestly. Ashido's expression fell a bit, but she didn't seem like someone who let the small things get her down.

"Well they're pretty lucky, then. Better treat you well! C'mon, Jirou." Ashido didn't wait before she started walking back down the pier towards the main road.

"Wait up! Zero patience with her…" Without a glance back, Jirou jogged to catch up to her friend as they disappeared into the darkening neighborhood as the sun set behind you.

With a groan, you turned over on your back, arms flat against the wood as you looked up into the endless sky overhead. Your clothes were uncomfortable as they clung to you stiffly, the fabric not made for easy maneuverability when wet. After a minute, you glanced back over your shoulder to make sure the women were gone and you were alone again before leaning over the edge of the pier to look for Bakugou.

"Hey, they're gone!" you called, but only silence echoed back as you scanned the water for movement. "Bakugou?" Angry crimson eyes suddenly poked out of the water, meeting you with a glare. "What's that look for? Also, you cannot pull me into the water again without warning. Next time-" He cut you off by slipping back under the water and reappearing in his customary leap up to the pier, catching himself on his strong arms like always. However, before you could sit up he leaned over you, one hand on either side of your chest. He leaned down towards your ear as you continue to lay on your stomach making you gasp; the closeness felt intimidatingly intimate.

"Who you see," Bakugou asked, the slightly cadence of a growl audible under his voice. "You…date?" This version of Bakugou was different from his earlier expression of anger…it was almost _possessive_ if you weren't mistaken.

You looked over your shoulder at him with a questioning stare. "What are you talking about? What date?"

He sneered before answering. "Human who help you, you say you 'seeing someone' like…you have mate!"

The dawning realization hit you as you looked up into his eyes full of frustration: he was jealous! "Oh my god…n-no!" It took all your strength to keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. "It was a lie to make her leave, I don't have a mate and haven't been on a date since, well, you know the one."

His face changed from anger to confusion to realization in a matter of seconds before - for the second time that day - a blush appeared on his skin. Growling, he turned away from you, removing his hands from your sides to hide his face from view. You chuckled, sitting up on your knees and wringing some of the water out of your shirt before realizing it was a useless attempt to stay dry.

You were about to open your mouth when the thought behind your words hit you like a truck, making you stop mid-breath; the lie to Ashido only felt like a slanted truth rather than a straight lie because you were thinking of _Bakugou_ as you said them. Cutting your eyes towards him nervously, he caught your stare over his shoulder before turning away quickly. Today was indeed a day of surprises.

Clearing your throat, you slowly scooted towards him, noticing his shoulders tense as your movements vibrated the creaking wooden slats. "Bakugou…c'mon, don't be mad. Nothing to be upset about!" You reached over to poke him in the cheek, moving your hand away while he swatted at it with a growl. "I'm not seeing anyone. But I gotta ask, why were you mad in the first place thinking I was dating someone?"

His head remained turned away from you as he scoffed. "Because," was all he said, reminiscent of a child unwilling to answer a question.

"Because why?" Just like earlier when in the water, you mimicked his action and placed your chin on his cool shoulder, batting your eyelashes innocently; now he was being questioned for the meaning of something, and you weren't going to give up the opportunity to find out the truth.

"Because…!" he growled out, shifting to push your face away. "Humans treat you bad!"

The outburst caused you both to stop, eyes wide and staring at each other as the last remnants of color from the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon, leaving you both in the dim shadows of twilight.

"W..what?" you finally muttered, his hand still poised halfway on your face. "Why would you say that?"

Bakugou's expression softened, though his eyes were stern, palms now flat against pier as he leaned towards you. "Last date, you sad, they were stupid," he spat, remembering how upset you were the night he found you crying on the pier, feeling abandoned and forgotten. "Then they yell at you, but not your fault," he said through gritted teeth, probably referring to the coworker who nearly screamed at you through the phone and blamed you for the whole situation. He was more than happy to shut them up at the time, and he'd do it again in a heartbeat. Bakugou reached forward to grab the front of your shirt and pull you closer, shoulders tense and stare unwavering as he continued to talk.

"You say humans do bad things, so I hide. They make trash, ruin my home," he said as you watched the muscles in his arms tense with frustration. "You alone, though humans everywhere. You come here, instead. You better than them, all of them, (y/n)."

Everytime your name left his lips your heart skipped a beat, and this moment proved no different. His words burned inside your chest like glowing coals, crimson eyes like a dancing fire as he stared at you. He'd analyzed every conversation and every complaint about people you'd thrown his way, thinking him a passive yet engaged listener. The only experiences you'd told him of other people were generally negative: complaining about people at work, the nonexistent date, worrying about people stealing him away for horrible experiments, friends drifting off with successful and fulfilling lives while you sat alone in your apartment with your cat and boxes of tea. It made perfect sense why he was upset, thinking humans treated you like nothing more than the trash stuffed in your backpack dirty with his scales and blood.

He'd concluded that when you were with other humans, you were unhappy, forgotten, or ignored…and that made him mad, because he knew you were worth more than their shallow attention. Bakugou wanted to protect you from harm, from the possibility of someone causing you pain. When you were with him, he felt responsible for your happiness and did what he could with his limited scope of human knowledge to sweep away what he saw in himself: the turmoil of knowing you weren't appreciated or wanted among your own people. He continued.

"You here…not with them. With me." Despite his lack of vocabulary, your throat felt tight as you understood exactly what he meant, and that every sentiment rang true. You always turned people down to come here, knowing you'd enjoy yourself more with Bakugou than if you went to some bar or sat through the gossip of people who were essentially strangers. He still held onto the front of your shirt tightly.

"Bakugou…do you really think all of that? You think I'm that important?" you asked hesitantly.

"You good, and strong, and not stupid. You important. Understand?" His grip loosened on your shirt, leaving it stretched with the imprints of his fingers as the damp fabric settled from lack of tension. You had a feeling there was more he wanted to say - could say - but he held back for reasons unknown.

You couldn't look away from his gaze as it pulled you in like a vortex, afraid that if your point of focus changed he'd disappear. Determined not to feel sorry for yourself you chose to believe him, that his words rang true; his efforts to pull you into a space of safety and acceptance wouldn't be in vain. "Yeah, I understand. Humans can be bad, you're right. Some aren't, but others could definitely use an ass-kicking. You're not wrong, either…about how I spend my time. I'd rather be here than out there." Your fingers laced through your tangled hair as you shrugged, feeling the drip of water down your arm from the still-wet fabric of your shirt. "So what, you saying I should just spend all my time with you, then?" you asked with a questioning smile.

As the anger in his expression abated a smirk replaced it, the small glint of mischief and mystery and some hint of affection returning to the crimson eyes. If a look could feel like an embrace, this was it. "You say it."

"Doesn't sound so bad," you admitted, letting your head rest in your palm with your elbow propped up on your knee, the other hand drumming mindlessly next to you on the dark wood. They stopped when Bakugou's hand found yours, though it was that exact moment you decided to continue your train of thought. "But I swear if you push me in the water again you are banned from eating my food, no more." His claws scratched at your skin gently, eye twitching at the possibility of being denied food, though he didn't seem particularly upset.

"Then swim with me," he whispered. His words seemed to imply a double meaning as he invited you into his world, to be where he felt most at home and the least vulnerable, to let him support you as you learned, just like you supported him whenever he was down on himself about his home or his scars. Webbed fingers slid over yours in a gesture so simple yet spoke volumes, his tail swishing lazily below the pier and disturbing the silence with the echo of moving water against his fins. Denying what your heart said at this point would be useless.

"Alright," you nodded, heart filling up with a warm fondness you hadn't experienced in a long time. "I will." You accepted his offer, along with whatever hidden implications he laced behind his words. "But I have to buy swimming clothes, first."

The sneer on his face made you laugh. "Fine," he muttered, rolling his pretty red eyes. "Promise?"

"Yeah, yeah, I promise. You're so greedy, you know that?" As if to prove prove your point, Bakugou let go of your hand to grab hold of your upper arm and pull you to him so your back was against his chest, just like how you were situated earlier in the water.

"Greedy _and_ handsome," he chuckled next to your ear, reminding you of the slip-up earlier with amusement.

"Shut up," you groaned, feeling his heartbeat between your shoulder blades. If you were one for movie cliches, then sitting under the moonlight on the beach resting against an attractive guy - even if half of him wasn't exactly human - would fit the bill for a date with someone who you definitely were not falling in love with.

Weeks ago, the idea of feeling anything beyond friendship for Bakugou might have terrified you, the fear of being nothing more than something to occupy his time, someone to distract him from his own loneliness weighing on you like a sack of bricks pulling on the strings of insecurity. Now, as you listened to his breathing on your shoulder and felt his heartbeat at your back and his hand against the goosebumps of your arm…you accepted it despite having no clue where these feelings might lead.

"I should get home though, I need to change clothes." You felt him slump against you with a grunt. "See, greedy as shit. Oh fuck, I almost forgot! Are you hungry? I still have-" Before you finished the sentence, Bakugou reached over to grab your bag and pull it to you eagerly, though his other hand never loosened the grip on your shirt. "…food. Impatient, too? Jeez."

As he swiped pieces of tuna and salmon slathered in wasabi, you couldn't help but laugh and shake your head at the idea of it all. Yeah, if your days ended up just like this - with Bakugou at your side - then you wouldn't mind it at all.


	11. Chapter 11

Darkness surrounded him as he slept, the smallest flutter of bubbles alighting from the swish of his tail and the filtering of his gills before floating upwards and disappearing into the ceiling of the dark cavern. He rarely dreamed, though tonight visions danced in his head, jumping from one blurred figure or scene to the next.

A flurry of tails, outstretched hands and anguished faces passed by him, though none were recognizable in the confusion. With eyes wide and jaw clenched, he watched as a dark ominous shadow descended, a shape with dead eyes and white teeth stained with the taste of crimson. He knew he couldn't win, not against this. He wasn't ready, hadn't trained enough, wasn't experienced enough to protect everyone...hell, he couldn't even protect _himself_. A feeling of intense powerlessness consumed him in that moment.

Then, a hero arrived, a blur of red and blue and yellow that fought off the darkness.

The hands that, moments before, had passed him with little regard now closed in on him like a devouring vortex of mistrust and anger. Fingers clawed at his skin and tail viciously, forcing him to back away and flee towards unknown waters. Away from pain, away from anger, away from guilt.

Everything turned black as he swam, unable to perceive up from down, weightless and ensnared by his own grief and helplessness.

 _Why me, why was it me?_

 _Why wasn't I stronger? What could I have done?_

 _What do I...do now?_

Floating while enveloped in ink - viscous and rancid and opaque - he felt it drip down his throat, seep into his gills, grip his airway like a vice preventing him from escaping. When he thought he could fight no more, when his strength was gone and all he could do was give in limply to the burden of shame that threatened to stifle the very blood that pumped in his veins, a pair of hands encircled him. They were warm and inviting; if acceptance felt like anything, it would feel like this.

He let the arms support him as the ink fled his body, scared of the sincerity that now held him gently and kept him safe. For once, just this once, he accepted the help and closed his eyes to the embrace of another.

He slept with arms splayed out to his sides on the rockbed of the ocean floor, the gentle brush of seaweed and moss and ocean plant life acting as blanket and pillow. His tail of orange, black, and gold curled around him protectively and unconsciously during sleep. A hole - only a few feet wide - opened at the top of the cavern. It was the only way for him to know the sun was up as the deep black water of night was replaced with teal and dark blue with the coming of the dawn.

Red eyes snapped open as the dream ended and transformed with a blur into the familiar cavern walls. It was only a nightmare, only an illusion...though the events were real enough in a sense. Bakugou unconsciously gripped a handful of sand and let the grains slip through his fingers.

With his tail uncurled and fingers outstretched, Bakugou woke slowly from his sleep, the swish of fins creating more bubbles that floated easily up and out of the ceiling opening towards the far-off sunlight. Every movement, every twitch of muscle danced effortlessly in the water, a twirl of scales disrupting the stillness of the cave as he swam through a short tunnel system and poked his head out of a side entrance mostly hidden from view behind tall seaweed. He pushed himself free of the cave and out into the open expanse of blue and green, his body floating like an astronaut untethered in the vast expanse of space, bubbles as stars and schools of fish as hundreds of circling moons and flying stardust.

Bakugou groaned at remembering what he was supposed to do today. "Dammit, the stupid meeting...he better not be late like last time; idiot always gets distracted on the way…" he muttered before darting off to find breakfast, movements quick and agile.

He'd acquired an irreversible taste for cooked fish and spicy wasabi, though he didn't turn his nose up at something raw and bloody, easily catching something for breakfast with swift maneuvers as he made his way towards their usual meeting spot. It was a fairly long swim, but Bakugou was fast with little effort wasted as he shot forward like a rocket, darting between rock formations and faded coral.

Something caught his eye as he swam, making Bakugou pause in his journey and move forward towards the sight. A large turtle swam slowly along, though wrapped around one of its fins was a piece of plastic cutting into the skin. Every time he saw trash Bakugou snarled, disgusted with the refuse left by humans and the aftermath it caused. Slowly approaching the turtle, he grabbed hold of the shell and - though it protested at first - he unwound the plastic, letting it float between his fingers before the turtle swam off, hopefully happier than it was moments before. Bakugou wrapped the plastic around his hand and tied it so it wouldn't come loose.

"(y/n) can throw this shit away later," he said to himself, not realizing he was smiling as he said your name, the sincere familiarity of your eyes making his face feel warm before he caught himself and focused again on the task ahead, swimming with determination towards the meeting place. The sooner it was over, the sooner he could get back to you.

"Where is that moron?" he bit out through gritted teeth. "Should have been here by now…he's the one who set up these things…"

Bakugou hovered against a rock, strong arms crossed as he scoffed, red eyes watching the emptiness in front of him for movement. It wasn't long before something started closing in the distance; a dot of black slowly grew to a blur of red as it moved closer. Bakugou didn't move, knowing he wasn't in any danger from the familiar figure swimming towards him.

It slowed as it swam closer, extending a webbed hand in greeting, a bright and familiar smile full of sharp teeth making Bakugou roll his eyes. "Hey! Sorry I'm late, I saw some cool rocks and-"

"Of course you did," Bakugou said, looking the merman in front of him up and down. He was built similarly to Bakugou, arms strong and chiseled from constant swimming, though his shoulders were a bit wider and his chest slightly larger. Fading cars littered his hands and arms, though these were caused by intense training rather than foolish carelessness. Striking red hair floated easily around his strong jawline, longer than Bakugou's, though no less prickly. His tail was shaded in various tones of crimson - although his was absent of scars - which matched his eyes, wider and more inviting than Bakugou's slanted ones.

"What's that on your hand? And...dude, your tail! It's got more-" Bakugou growled cutting the other merman off.

"Human trash is what it is, I'm keeping it to get rid of later so it'll be gone forever. And stop staring at it!" he said, shoving the red-head's face away as he swept in for a closer look at the missing scales and small rip in Bakugou's tail fin.

He held up his clawed hands defensively with an apologetic expression. "Sorry! Didn't mean to light a fuse. How've you been, though? I guess it's been a while…" he trailed off, thinking back to their last meeting several weeks ago.

After Bakugou left their home, he was one of the few that knew it wasn't his fault for what happened, wasn't Bakugou's fault that others got hurt (though not gravely) and _certainly_ wasn't his fault that their hero - their protector - ended up too injured to continue his primary job as surveyor of their home, leaving it up to others to keep threats at bay. He'd managed to find Bakugou after long days of searching and convinced him to meet up at least every once in a while for an update, to catch up, to see how he was doing away from the only place Bakugou knew as home. After a while, though, he'd noticed a distinct but gradual change in behavior and demeanor; the anger and guilt that weighed him down like a heavy anchor didn't appear as burdensome, and he even swore seeing Bakugou smile unironically! It had only taken one slip of the tongue for Bakugou to reveal the reason behind the attitude change.

He'd met a human, one that apparently he'd grown surprisingly attached to.

"Yeah, yeah,...so what's the update? Everyone still pissed at me or what?" Bakugou demanded, tail swishing impatiently behind him.

The other scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well...not everyone. Some of them realized how dumb it was to blame you...but I'm not gonna lie, others would drive you out if you came back." He held a look of apology, not for himself, but he genuinely felt bad on Bakugou's behalf knowing that some - especially the families of those injured in the attack - might never forgive him. "Your parents miss you, though. I tell them you're fine but I know they'd like to see you again…"

Bakugou scoffed. "Figures, it was best I left on my own terms rather than being driven out by those assholes." Though running away from the whole situation made him grimace, Bakugou would rather do things on his own than feel like he was ever pushed into anything. "Tell the old hag not to worry, I can take care of myself."

"At least the Hero understands-"

" _Former_ Hero," Bakugou corrected with biting tongue.

"Yeah...well, he doesn't blame you at all. Knows it's not your fault."

Bakugou's eyes were steady as he looked into red pupils that matched his own. "I know." At that the other smiled, hands on his hips - well, as hip-like as a tail could be anyway - before his expression changed to one of mischief.

"Soo, how's you-know-who hmm?" he said playfully, earning an eye-twitch from Bakugou.

"Shut up, Kirishima, that's none of your damn business." The slight flush of his cheeks gave him away, though, only egging on his friend and confidant.

"Oh, c'mon! This is basically the only person besides me you've interacted with since you left and I'm _not_ stupid, I can tell you've changed at least a little!" He went to pinch Bakugou's cheek but his hand was swatted away with a growl. "Plus I wanna know more about humans! You probably know more than the researchers at this point. What do they eat? How do they breathe without gills? Do they have-"

"Shut your mouth, moron! You don't know what you're talking about." Arms still crossed tightly over his chest he looked away from Kirishima, though his expression was surprisingly soft in contrast to his biting tone.

"But I _wanna_ know, that's the point of me asking! Look," Kirishima said, gesturing to himself dramatically. "You're my friend and I care about you-"

"Stop."

"And I just want to make sure they're not trying to trick you or anything!"

Bakugou's eyes narrowed. "Trick...the fuck's that supposed to mean?" Bakugou unwound his arms defensively at the accusation. "You think I'm dumb enough to fall for some stupid ruse? They aren't like that, anyway."

The shift in stance didn't make Kirishima back down, squaring up right alongside his friend. "I just want you to be safe, man. Of course you're not dumb, you're way smarter than me, honestly, I just...that's why you should tell me more about 'em! We all know humans can be dangerous when they wanna be, that's why we're cautious."

"Shut up, you're smart when you actually try," Bakugou retorted. He really disliked whenever Kirishima put himself down, a nasty habit he'd never grown out of. He also knew Kirishima would keep bugging him endlessly, and the sooner he answered his questions, the sooner he could leave. "Fine...what do you wanna know?"

Kirishima face contorted back into a wide grin, making Bakugou frown thinking he'd made a grave mistake in opening himself up to revealing information. He did feel like he owed Kirishima something, though; he was the only one who regularly checked on him, brought information from his old home, and seemed to actually give a shit about whether or not he was doing alright. If he wanted a couple of answers to what he was up to, Bakugou would oblige. He hated feeling indebted to someone, after all.

"Oh shit, really? Awesome! OK uh...well now you put me on the spot," Kirishima said with a laugh, scratching his cheek as he thought of a question. "How often do you see them?"

Bakugou hesitated before answering. "Everyday...almost." His voice was low and he attempted to avoid eye contact. "What? Don't give me that look!"

Kirishima wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "They're that engaging, huh? Must be stubborn to put up with you that much - ow!" He got swift punch in the arm for that. "Kidding! I put up with you so it's not a big deal. Alright, next question! What are feet like? Are they like...hands attached to bottom arms or…?"

Bakugou sneered showing his teeth. "The hell kind of question is that?"

"They look weird! They're like, short fingers that humans stand on, right?" Kirishima acted out some bizarre gesture supposed to resemble walking that just had Bakugou sighing.

"They stand on em, yeah, on LEGS not 'bottom arms' you idiot. Apparently they're sensitive to touch, at least (y/n)'s are-"

Kirishima's gaping mouth made Bakugou stop mid-sentence realizing he'd given out secret information; he clicked his tongue in a silent curse. "Is that a name? Kinda weird for a name but...wait. How do you know they're sensitive? You've touched them, then?" Kirishima scratched his chin as he considered this development before pointing in Bakugou's face and retreating it quickly so it wouldn't get bitten off. "Bakugou! Of all the things I never thought I'd see it's you falling for -"

"Shut the hell up!" Bakugou screamed defensively, making Kirishima's jaw clamp shut. When he was alone with you and no one else was around, that was one thing; he felt safe and comfortable enough to let some of his walls down, he trusted you enough to be vulnerable and, dare he say, _emotionally available_. You'd proven through kind actions and expressions of good faith that you weren't someone to be wary of; it had taken a long time, sure, but you were patient and he was appreciative. That was none of Kirishima's business, though. "You don't know anything."

"The fact that you're denying it so bad means I'm probably right, sorry man. But now I have so many other questions!" As Kirishima started to ramble, floating mindlessly with eyes unfocused and tail swishing back and forth, Bakugou wordlessly backed away and made like he was about to escape the onslaught before Kirishima caught him trying to retreat. "Hey, wait!"

"No more questions!" Despite being quick, Kirishima was strong and grabbed his forearm preventing him from retreating. "Let go!"

"Just a few more and I promise I'll let you go!"

"The hell should I answer stuff that isn't your business?!" Bakugou said while trying to pry Kirishima's strong grip from his arm, but the plastic wrapped around his hand prevented him from getting a proper hold.

"It's like I said before! This is the only person you've spent your time with right? You've changed, Bakugou...not much, you're still obviously YOU, but I think it's in a good way. I've known you a long time so I just wanna know what makes this human special I guess."

Bakugou stopped struggling to look at his friend who he'd never openly admitted to actually _being_ friends with, like there was some unspoken agreement between them that they got along well enough to just know what they were to each other. He'd always been one to hide behind a scowling visage, turning away affection and the idea of intimacy with the conclusion that they weren't really something he needed; and he was right, he didn't _need_ them...but now they were something he just, sort of, _wanted._

It was never something planned, he didn't go into meeting the human with the intent of getting anything out of it other than answers to his own curiosity and the occasional meal. He was alone, they were alone through his own observations from afar, and despite telling himself he didn't need anyone around, having nothing but the waves and sounds of the ocean while far away from the home he knew day in and day out started to wear thin. Taking the chance to explore the unknown, aware that he was the only one who might get hurt this time if things went badly, Bakugou approached you.

However, as the days turned to weeks and he grew accustomed to your meetings, a shift happened without him even realizing it: his curiosity grew into attachment, and that attachment was budding into something he wasn't entirely sure how to describe other than knowing enjoyed your company (a lot), and you enjoyed his, and that was enough. No, it was more than enough, but Bakugou still wasn't fully open to admitting the truth of his feelings if they went deeper than that. Exploring something as complex as emotional attachment to someone - a human, at that - felt mysterious with unknown possibilities.

"Bakugou…?" Kirishima questioned as his friend stared blankly past him at something unseen. His name shook him of his thoughts as Bakugou finally yanked his arm free of the grip. "Look, I don't mean to pry, you don't have to tell me if you don't wanna."

"I don't know," was all he managed to say in response. He knew Kirishima wouldn't press the issue, but the smallest sliver - barely visible and hardly felt - tugged at him to just tell _someone else_ about everything, to unload the weeks turned to months of meetings and help him figure things out...but asking for help wasn't easy for Bakugou. Maybe that's why you stood out so much: you helped him without ever being asked.

"Don't know what?"

"I don't…" He scowled more at himself than at his friend. "I don't know what makes them special, OK?! They just...fuck, this is stupid-"

"It's not stupid! Just start from the beginning maybe? Rather than trying to dig into whatever's happening right now. Also, just so you _know_ ," Kirishima said placing emphasis on the word in case Bakugou didn't get the hint, "None of this leaves this spot, and I'm not gonna judge you for anything you say. You're my friend and if you wanna talk, my time is yours."

Bakugou groaned at the heartfelt response, but ultimately decided to use the presented opportunity as an excuse to get a second opinion on things. "The beginning, huh? Like when we first met?" Kirishima nodded with that overbearing smile of his, prompting Bakugou to continue. "They were alone, never with anyone else. Maybe it was me being bored out of my mind after being away for a while, hell if I know, but I let them see me and (y/n) didn't run away."

Half of that was a blatant lie; there were a multitude of reasons why he was curious about you and wanted to know more - many of which were openly vocalized and confessed to during several gut-wrenching meetings - but he chose the simplest and easiest to digest for the sake of openly recounting it. Kirishima didn't speak, choosing to keep silent and let Bakugou talk, afraid that an interruption might make him too self-conscious to continue.

"They gave me food...fuck, that's not true, I stole their food because it smelled good."

"What kind of food?" Kirishima broke his silence almost immediately at the mention of food.

"Humans eat fish like us, but they put different stuff on it. You're missing out, it tastes fucking delicious," Bakugou answered with a smirk as he crossed his arms at Kirishima's expression, knowing the other would be jealous of good food.

"Oh man that's no fair...OK, so you stole their food, then what?"

It took a moment to think back to several months ago. "They weren't mad, mostly curious I guess? Humans don't think we're real in case you didn't know."

Kirishima's jaw slowly unhinged and his brow furrowed so tediously that Bakugou couldn't help but roll his eyes dramatically. "What do you mean we're _not real_?"

"I _mean_ they think we're some fairy tale, something made up, imaginary. I guess that proves we're good at hiding from them. I assume that's why (y/n) stuck around at first, I was a fucking story come to life-"

"And stealer of their food," Kirishima interrupted, gaining back his composure.

"You want me to keep talking?"

"OK, OK, keep going."

Bakugou scoffed before continuing. "Anyway, they started bringing me food after that. As long as I showed up, I got a free meal. Then (y/n) started teaching me how to talk in human words." At this Kirishima perked up again with an excited smile and sparkling eyes.

Bakugou was surprised at how much he was actually enjoying talking about all of this; it was fun recounting his meetings with you as they slowly built up in closeness. This helped keep his memory fresh, and he secretly wanted to recapture every detail, afraid one might slip away if too much time passed. "You can talk to them, then? Say something in human."

He shook his head. "Their language doesn't work underwater, it comes out all wrong," Bakugou replied. He'd tried practicing words while you were away, but found they made nothing but garbled bubbles when he tried.

"C'mon, just one word," Kirishima pressed. Bakugou grumbled but attempted to say "you're stupid" in your human tongue, but it came out just as he expected: ugly. Whenever they came from you, on the other hand, it didn't sound so bad...not bad at all.

Kirishima cringed at the bizarre sounds. "Ugh, yeah that doesn't sound right…"

The storytelling continued as Kirishima listened intently and only interrupted when he wanted to ask a curious question. Bakugou recounted other meetings, though left out the more...affectionate ones. He skipped over finding you crying on the pier as he remembered the pained look on your face after realizing someone you were supposed to meet - someone for a _date_ \- had completely abandoned you. It was on that day that Bakugou concluded he was starting to view you as someone who meant something to him, something outside of a human who just gave him food, kept him company, or provided casual entertainment in times of boredom. You seemed genuinely interested in knowing more about who he was. He disliked the idea of someone being close to you, but at the time wasn't sure why. Seeing you upset was also painful, and if he could take away that sadness, even for a moment, he would.

Bakugou still struggled to find the right words to describe you at times, words he'd never used to describe anyone else. You showed him empathy, though never felt sorry for him or stood above him like many might knowing his story of voluntary exile. You didn't care about his scars - emotional or physical - and had even said his tail was _pretty_ , a descriptor he would never have used to describe himself before you came along. He was strong and smart, that much he knew - but anything past that felt frivolous. You openly gave him your time and food, bought things for him and spent countless hours at this point teaching him your language and answering his endless questions. When you praised him for learning something new, it made him smile; at first it was a strict matter of pride to prove that he could learn anything you threw at him, and while the accolades were always appreciated, Bakugou eventually realized he just enjoyed seeing you happy and knowing he was the cause. You made him laugh, something very few could take credit for. You...missed him, when he wasn't around.

The night he'd come back from hunting for your gift of pearls made his heart stop and his blood run cold at the realization that he'd made you upset by just _not being there_ : his existence in your life felt like the final piece of a complicated puzzle, each shape scribbled with the mundane occurrences that helped people feel a sense of contentment as they moved from day to day searching for a deeper sense of purpose or meaning. The pain on your face and the emotional weight of your words made him swear - to both you and himself - that he never wanted to see that expression again if he could help it. He'd gone on a journey to find you something that he deemed worthy of everything you'd given him, and he hadn't realized how long he was away as the days slipped by and he slept sporadically in unknown waters searching for something to help even out the exchanges.

In reality the gift meant more than that, but he was hard-pressed to admit it; sitting neatly in shell that many might find ugly or average were shimmering jewels. You saw yourself as undesirable or mundane when really everything wonderful about you - everything that he struggled to see within himself - was kept hidden until the right moments dripped into the timeline of meetings. Bakugou wanted to pull those things out so you could see yourself as he saw you.

He also hated feeling indebted to someone; though he knew you didn't want or need anything in return outside of his company, he felt compelled to give you something - anything to keep and something to hold onto. There were items he treasured back home, but of course he hadn't dared go back and retrieve anything. Kirishima had found him by that point, but asking him to bring back specific things would just stir up questions that Bakugou did not want to answer.

Bakugou continued to talk and Kirishima continued to listen, both completely forgetting about how much time was passing.

"Wait, hold on." Kirishima held up a hand suddenly causing Bakugou to pause in his story. "They can't swim?!"

Bakugou growled at the dramatic expression. "What? I'm teaching them so it's fine!"

Kirishima looked skeptical which just made Bakugou angrier. "At least you're a good swimmer obviously, dunno if you'd be a good teacher though...man, they sound kinda cool and you know so much about humans now!"

"Don't be stupid, of course they're badass. (y/n)'s smart as shit and answers pretty much anything I ask about. They can sing real fucking good and they bring me gifts and shit and they're nice and -"

"Dude," Kirishima interrupted, breaking Bakugou from his train of thought as he started rambling about your good qualities without realizing it. His expression was soft as he crossed his arms over his broad chest and looked at his friend. "I was wrong."

His eye twitched as Bakugou tried to keep from looking embarrassed at his mishap of oversharing. "Hah? Wrong about what?"

"Wrong, about the human. I thought, maybe...they might have bad intentions."

"Tch, most humans do because they're selfish assholes. But-"

"But this one's different. I know that now, I can tell just by the way you talk about 'em." Kirishima swam closer and Bakugou made to move away but a strong hand clamped down on his shoulder keeping him in place. "Does (y/n) make you happy?"

The question was so simple, so direct, so full of meaning that it took Bakugu by surprise. Defining happiness was different for everyone: for some, money or wealth made them happy. For others, maybe it was being surrounded by friends and family that gave them feelings of contentment or elation.

Bakugou wondered about the question many times as he got older, wondering what it was that might secure his own slice of happiness. He became strong and powerful, one of the fastest and most agile swimmers in the colony. Working hard to be someone important - someone that everyone looked up to, someone who always came out on top - he trained and studied and surpassed those around him.

However, the lack of a proper challenge grew tiresome, and Bakugou fell listless into the daily routines of adulthood as he went out with the hunters to gather food, or swept through obstacles in his path with little to no difficulty. The tedium forced him to explore, to wander farther than most, to discover a new challenge.

That's where all of this started, and how he ended up in his current situation.

After all of that work he found no contentment in it, feeling like something else was missing but he didn't know what. He'd overcome every hurdle he came across...until he came up against something he couldn't defeat. It felt as though all his effort was useless if he couldn't even help people in a moment of terror that _he caused_ , erasing every accomplishment, scattering them like disappearing bubbles under a swift and unforgiving current.

Then he met you, and everything started to deviate. You saw past his flaws, past his rough exterior and found something beautiful that he couldn't even see in himself. That's what made the trips worth it. You'd even told him directly that he made you happy, that you enjoyed his company, and missed him when he was gone. He'd considered your happiness, but now he was confronted with the question of his own. It all made him feel so...so…!

"Yeah," Bakugou finally answered, voice gravelly and eyes unwavering. You were his happiness, and he would finally admit it openly; doing otherwise would be a disservice to his respect for you.

Kirishima just smiled, though Bakugou groaned at the sappiness of the whole situation knowing Kirishima would hang this over his head for quite a while. "Then that's it, then. That's your answer. If they make you happy, then that's all that matters, right?"

Bakugou replied with silence, but Kirishima knew him well enough to understand the meaning.

"But since they're human, how do you...have you…?" Kirishima hoped Bakugou could pick up on what he was asking without having to actually say it aloud, but his confused expression told him otherwise. "OK so, uh...they have legs..? Yeah, legs! So how do you…" He hesitantly made some lewd hand gesture which immediately made Bakugou slap his hands away, his own face a dark shade of flustered crimson.

"The hell?! Don't do that!"

"I'm just asking!" Kirishima exclaimed with equal embarrassment at his own curiosity at the differences in anatomy.

"None of your damn business!" To be completely honest, Bakugou hadn't even thought of anything past the very basics of touching. A gentle interlock of fingers, a whisper of skin against skin as light as a feather, a voice like a soft breeze against an ear; he didn't exactly feel like a romantic in any traditional sense, but he'd learned what seemed to make you flustered, small gestures that left your cheeks dusted pink or your throat dry. He wasn't privy to human mating rituals or customs, but whatever he was doing seemed to be working in some capacity, so he just continued to act in a way that seemed natural. Plus, it was honestly amusing to see how the smallest touch or look could get you so worked up...as if his ego needed an extra boost.

He was in no rush. Bakugou was one to show what he wanted and how he felt through his actions rather than his words, which seemed best considering the language barrier; while under any other circumstance he would barrel into situations with little fear for the aftermath, when it came to you he was content to be patient as he learned and became more comfortable with saying he trusted you. Being close emotionally was still new for Bakugou, but if nothing went past being able to just share his time - and the occasional embrace - with you he wouldn't complain.

"Also, I wanna meet 'em!" Kirishima said excitedly, breaking Bakugou from his wandering thoughts. "They sound pretty cool and maybe I can try some of that human food!"

At this Bakugou snapped back to reality to focus on the red merman in front of him. "The hell? No you can't...meet...shit! How long have we been here?" he asked quickly. Before Kirishima could answer, though, Bakugou took off in the direction he'd originally come leaving a spray of bubbles trailing behind him.

"Huh? Wait up!" Kirishima called after him while trying to keep up.

"Fucking hell I'm so stupid...dumbass kept me talking too long," he muttered to himself. If he was a little late that was fine, but he hoped you hadn't gone and left if it got too dark thinking he'd forgotten or gotten sidetracked. Bakugou promised he'd always return and he'd be damned if he broke that already.

"Slow down!" Kirishima was just as strong a swimmer as Bakugou, but his slightly bulkier frame limited his speed in favor of more raw physical strength.

"Stop following me you nosey bastard!" He darted in and out of various underwater formations, tall stalks of seaweed spiraling in the wake of his swift momentum.

"So what if I'm curious?! Just let me meet 'em once and I won't bug you about it again!" Bakugou was agile, gradually pulling ahead of Kirishima as he rocketed towards a destination only one of them knew the location of.

A smirk appeared on Bakugou's face as he considered his options before answering. "Then try and keep up!" With a final flurry of flashing fins he sped ahead, daring his companion to match his speed and maneuverability. He'd lose him in the race, having the route knowledge on his side leaving Kirishima swimming blind.

He was exhausted by the time he reached the familiar area of the beach, the underwater pillars of the pier barely visible in the distance as the water turned dark. The sun had already set. Bakugou knew it was late, but assumed the night was still early enough for you to linger around for a while longer.

He looked back over his shoulder and saw only emptiness beyond the current and gliding fish and floating plant life. Scoffing, he smirked to himself as his chest heaved up and down and gills soaked in the oxygen from the surrounding water eagerly as he came down from the adrenaline rush. "I knew I was faster...just couldn't keep up." Bakugou wasted no more time and swam quickly towards the pier.

Your fingers and toes were recognizable at this point - not just by sight but by touch and smell, he could pick yours out against the limbs of strangers who visited the pier. To avoid being seen Bakugou would breach the surface of the water under the pier and look for you before announcing himself - and sure enough there you were, hands outstretched towards the water lazily; maybe you'd fallen asleep waiting for him. He never saw you sleep, though he sometimes wondered what you looked like when the stress of days left you and your eyes closed as you breathed easily.

Smiling to himself a single webbed hand reached up to caress the skin of your palm, light and hardly noticeable to anyone not paying attention.

"Mhm? Bakugou?" you muttered from the edge of the pier, your voice echoing underneath the water-stained wood. Bakugou interlocked his fingers with yours in response before - with one final visual pass to make sure no one was around on the coast - he popped his head out of the water.

You looked at him sleepily, the leftover rays of sun finally sinking down behind the endless line of deep dark sea behind him. He couldn't help but think how nice you looked with heavy eyelids and lopsided smirk as your cheek pressed against the edge of the pier from laying on your stomach.

"You're late, but I'll forgive you. I was about to fall asleep, really tired today…" you yawned while fiddling with Bakugou's fingers. "Mhm, what's that on your hand?"

He'd nearly forgotten about the plastic wrapped around his palm. Unraveling it he held it out for you to take. "Found trash on a turtle, you throw it away," he said as you examined the garbage with a sneer. After picking up the first set of children's books, he'd requested - more like demanded, really - one on living sea creatures so he could learn the names of things he encountered everyday: dolphins, whales, sharks, crabs, turtles, octopi, etc. He mentally named things as he explored and hunted while you remained at work.

"People are trash," you muttered, reaching back to slide the plastic into your bag to throw away later. "You were supposed to teach me to swim today, did you forget? Chicken out?"

Bakugou's eye twitched thinking you were calling him a coward; he knew you were joking, of course, but still didn't enjoy the implication. "No," he said with a grunt. "Got...distracted."

"Well you're here now, right? But it's too late for a swimming lesson." You let go of his hands before standing up on the pier to stretch in an attempt to wake yourself up a bit. His eyes followed the movements of your body as your hands reached up towards the night sky. Though he knew you wouldn't call yourself graceful, Bakugou might disagree.

Kneeling down you patted the open spot next to you on the pier while glancing behind you briefly to make sure the coast was clear. "I can't stay long, but we can catch up for a minute if you want."

Bakugou dove underwater to build up the proper momentum needed to propel himself up onto the pier, the action rehearsed and familiar at this point. He shook his hair free of water similar to a wet dog, splashing you enough to make you laugh; it was a sound he'd grown attached to, even more so when he was the cause.

"You're such a shit, but I don't have to tell you something you already know." Your words held no bite as you smiled while wiping the water droplets from your face. Bakugou wasted no time in taking his customary spot on your lap, his head resting on your thigh while one of his hands found its way under your knee, fingers ghosting across your skin in rhythm with the sea breeze. If he could Bakugou would lay for hours like this, comfortable in your presence as you looked at him with glistening eyes full of something unspoken but still present.

"Why are you tired?" Bakugou asked while looking up at you. Everyday he got a little better about not skipping over words and closer to speaking in proper sentences. To be honest he was tired as well after swimming such a long distance in a short amount of time, but he could sleep later.

"Eh, just a long day. People at work being…" Your hand rolled idly against his damp blonde hair searching for the right word.

"Stupid?" he finished for you with a knowing smirk.

"Yeah, actually. Pretty stupid," you laughed in response.

"Tell 'em to shut up." It was a perfectly Bakugou thing to say, a phrase taught to him in a moment of vulnerability that he now tossed around whenever the opportunity popped up.

You scoffed, leaning back on your free hand while the other twirled on his scalp, the gentle purring reverberating through his chest and into your own muscles. "I wish I could sometimes…maybe I'll get a new job soon and things'll be better, we'll see."

When it was just the two of you he wasn't embarrassed to let his guard down a little. Your mouth opened as if to continue talking while looking out across the dark water that reflected the white moonlight shining down from the blackened sky, but stopped short as Bakugou watched your eyes focus somewhere out in the middle of the ocean. "What's that?"

He turned his head to follow your eyeline and, sure enough, something disrupted the water sitting still aside from the push and pull of gentle waves created by the cool evening breeze. Narrowing his eyes and sitting up from your lap his jaw clenched on instinct as a second pair of ruby eyes stared back at him just above the water's surface.


	12. Chapter 12

Song I associate with this chapter: "Nicest Thing" by Kate Nash

 _He turned his head to follow your eyeline and, sure enough, something disrupted the water sitting still aside from the push and pull of gentle waves created by the cool evening breeze. Narrowing his eyes and sitting up from your lap his jaw clenched on instinct as a second pair of ruby eyes stared back at him just above the water's surface._

A wretched growl echoed from Bakugou's throat as he bared his fangs in the direction of the eyes which disappeared quickly into the darkness of the water when their owner realized they'd been spotted. Your voice captured his attention nearly startling him out the sudden rush of possessive energy.

"Bakugou, what-"

"Don't move," he ground out as softly as he could manage as he turned to you, seeing the questioning look of concern in your eyes. Without another word he maneuvered out of your lap and dove into the water. Your voice called out to him but it was cut off and muffled as he swam with rabid intensity towards the direction of the eyes.

The water was almost pitch black as he swam, the only light source being the shining moon floating far above the ocean. Bakugou knew the area by now, however, and navigated easily enough as his muscles worked furiously, still tired and recovering from the long swim earlier.

Finally - with teeth bared and claws outstretched - he saw a swish of crimson cutting through the darkness and knew his target was close.

"KIRISHIMA! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!" Bakugou screamed as he swatted unsuspecting fish out of the way who couldn't escape fast enough.

"NOT WITH THAT MURDEROUS LOOK ON YOUR FACE!" he yelled back, though it was muffled from the distance and water between them. Kirishima's sass only pushed Bakugou faster as he caught up to the red-tailed merman who looked back at him with wide-eyed panic. "Dude!"

With a snarl Bakugou reached out and grabbed Kirishima's tail at the juncture where the main body met the tail fins, causing Kirishima to jerk back abruptly with a yelp. "I said slow the FUCK down!"

"Let go!" They were both out of breath, their gills working heavily to filter out oxygen quickly enough to supply their aching muscles. Kirishima held his hands up defensively as Bakugou closed in with eyes ablaze with fire…or at least as close to fire as someone could reach while underwater. "I didn't mean-"

"You spying bastard. The hell did I tell you earlier, huh?" His jaw was clenched as a vein was about to burst in his temple, bubbles spitting from his nose like an angry bull.

"You said try and keep up." Of course Kirishima couldn't help but get in one last smartass comment before Bakugou rounded on him poised to attack. "Sorry! I said I was curious, don't be mad!"

"You're so…stupid!" Bakugou yelled before running his claws through his hair in frustration. "If you're that close to shore you have to be careful no one sees you. You said yourself humans are dangerous, right?" The stern shift in his voice caught Kirishima off-guard: he was giving a warning, a proper scolding for possibly jeopardizing their secret existence when Bakugou was always careful. "If something just sits out in middle of the water it looks suspicious, which is why I always come up under the pier until I _KNOW_ it's safe…dumbass," he muttered through gritted teeth and steely eyes.

Kirishima slowly lowered his hands from his attempt at protecting his face seeing Bakugou was now stewing rather than outright raging. In his haste to know more, to follow Bakugou and sate his playful curiosity, he could have been seen by someone keeping an eye on the open water rather than the pier. Bakugou was considering their own safety; he was always keen on thinking ahead despite his impulsive nature, and this situation proved no different. "Shit…dude, I didn't even think-"

"No, you didn't," he said rounding once more on his companion. "You better fucking hope no one noticed besides (y/n)."

"They saw me?" Kirishima pointed back at himself, secretly wondering what they thought he was if Bakugou didn't tell them before barreling off in an angry huff.

"Yeah, saw you before I did."

"Ha, you did look kind of distracted…watch it!" Bakugou smacked him on the arm for that one though his cheeks were dusted pink keeping the smirk on Kirishima's face. "OK so…can I meet them now?"

Bakugou sputtered in place before spitting out a reply. "You can't be serious. You just-"

"Just one meeting and I'll be out of your hair about it!" He clapped his hands together as a spray of bubbles erupted from the quick gesture. He was curious about a lot of things concerning the situation, honestly. For one, he wanted to know more about humans, wanted to hear what they sounded like and how they moved around. He'd always been told that humans were dangerous and to stay away from them, so this might be his only chance to actually meet one who wasn't hostile. Kirishima also wanted to try some of that food Bakugou bragged about: no one could mention delicious food around him without his mouth salivating just a little. Finally, he wanted to know the type of person that could make his normally surley friend look so flustered. They had to be special, and Kirishima wanted to know why.

Bakugou ran a tired hand over his face as he looked at his pleading friend. It was almost pathetic how much groveling he was doing. "If I let you do this, you have to SWEAR to not be stupid, got it?"

Kirishima opened one ruby eye to see if Bakugou was being serious; the look on his face and crossed arms said he was, indeed, serious. "Really? You'll let me?"

A voice in the back of his head told Bakugou this was a bad idea, but if Kirishima kept bugging him about it - and especially now that he'd seen the two of you together and knew where he went everyday - he might as well get it over with rather than drag out more excuses he knew Kirishima wouldn't listen to. "Fine, but not today, it's too late now. Come back tomorrow before the sun sinks down, and don't be late this time, moron," Bakugou muttered. Before Kirishima could give a proper reply Bakugou swam off back in the direction he'd come - back to the human - leaving Kirishima in a cloud of bubbles and darkness.

You sat worriedly on the edge of the pier waiting for Bakugou to return. He'd seen whatever you pointed out on the surface of the water and sped off without an explanation leaving you to only guess at what, or who, it was that made him bristle so angrily.

"Shit, I hope he's alright…" You checked your phone: it was past ten o'clock at this point, the sun now completely gone leaving you in almost complete darkness aside from the scattered lamps that illuminated the pier, though half of them needed new bulbs leaving spots of flickering shadows. Yawning you waited for him to return, one leg dangling over the side of the pier, toes curling as the air grew cooler and filled your nose with salt.

Hardly a minute later a splash caught your attention near your feet. As you looked down your eyes met familiar ruby ones bringing an automatic smile to your face, though you noticed he was breathing heavily and he looked a bit agitated.

"Bakugou! The hell happened? You just…swam off!" you whispered with a wide gesture towards the open ocean, eyes darting around quickly to make sure you were both still alone. Tonight seemed unusually quiet making you wary of raising your voice too much in case someone came too close to the road or happened to take a late night stroll on the beach. Bakugou wasted little time in making his way onto the pier for a second time that night before plopping down on his back, chest heaving and arms splayed out to the side on the wooden planks with a groan. His tail hung limply over the edge, the fins ghosting across the top of the water like silk. "Hey, it's fine, just rest for a minute."

Looking him up and down you didn't notice any blood or injuries, so that was a good sign. You crawled over to him, laying on your stomach and resting your head on your forearm while the other ghosted across his scalp knowing the familiar touch often calmed him down. After a minute his breathing slowed, lips parted slightly as his wet skin glistened brilliantly under the moonlight; the sight of him never got old as you basked in his beauty that, even now, you sometimes thought was all just an elaborate dream.

When he turned his head and opened his eyes to look at you, though, the dream ended and brought you back to the reality of staring into the eyes of someone you cared for deeply and honestly. Bakugou's expression softened before speaking, though his brows were still pulled together in a crease.

"Someone...stupid…want to meet you," he muttered through gritted teeth while averting his gaze and turning his head back to look straight up into the starry, cloudless sky. Your hand never stopped caressing his damp hair.

"So the thing we saw in the water…wait, ah no way! Another person like you?" You couldn't contain the excitement in your voice at the idea that there were more merpeople out there like Bakugou. Sure, you knew he wasn't the only one and that he technically had a home, but he rarely talked about them openly. This meant he wasn't really alone, that there was someone else out there to keep him company when you weren't around; the thought brought you comfort.

Bakugou, on the other hand, looked almost offended at your enthusiasm.

"No, no, don't take it the wrong way," you said with a light laugh. "Still proving how needy you are wanting all my attention for yourself."

"Tch, am not," he objected.

"Are too."

He growled, too tired from swimming to argue…even if he knew your words rang true and he was just too stubborn to admit it.

"C'mon, don't fall asleep before you tell me what's going on," you said, taking the soothing touch of your hand away from his hair earning you a low growl of annoyance. "The sooner you tell me the sooner we can both sleep." You yawned, Bakugou peeking one scarlet eye open to memorize how you looked when sleepy; he also couldn't argue with your logic.

"I meet…friend," he said with a tinge of spite thinking about how much trouble Kirishima caused him today, "who meet me sometimes. From home. Tells me news." Bakugou remained on his back but turned his head to face you again as he grabbed your hand and placed it back on his head with an expectant look. You rolled your eyes but continued running your fingers through his hair; he was spoiled with affection, but you had no one to blame but yourself.

"Mm, I'm glad you have a friend you can talk to. I guess you haven't been to visit your home since leaving then…right?"

The question hung heavy in the air like thick fog, but Bakugou shook his head and said nothing.

"Sorry. But this friend visits and keeps you company sometimes, then?" You knew he didn't like talking about his home that much, so you kept the conversation going about this new companion.

"He annoying."

"Not annoying enough for you to stop hanging out, though," you countered. Bakugou clenched his jaw at how well you could read him at this point. As agitating as Kirishima was at times, there was something about him - some unnameable magnetism of acceptance and friendliness - that Bakugou just couldn't pull away from. "Anyway…keep going." Your hand never paused, still moving like wind through stalks of golden wheat after a heavy rain.

He'd picked up human mannerisms along with his language lessons which made you hyper aware of your actions when around him. Bakugu ran a hand down his face in an expression of exhaustion making you wonder how many times he'd seen you act it out yourself. "I…mention you…" He tried unsuccessfully to keep the tinge of pink from his cheeks as he avoided your sparkling eyes. "And he annoy me. Want know more human things. Followed me here."

You nodded in understanding. "So he wants to see how awesome I am then, right?" Bakugou raised his eyebrows. "Don't give me that look, you've said I'm awesome before so you can't deny it." Maybe it was tiredness catching up to him in addition to the lingering grumpiness created from the idea of Kirishima intruding on his private meetings with you, but Bakugou couldn't shake off his bad mood. "C'mon, it's fine. Maybe I can pry some embarrassing stories from him."

"He can't talk human," Bakugou replied with a knowing smirk. Bakugou would have to act as translator since you wouldn't be able to understand Kirishima and he knew nothing of human language; it was extra work on his part, but it kept Kirishima from knowing anything he shouldn't or spilling unwanted information from his fat mouth. Bakugou could technically control the conversation, and that suited him just fine.

"Oh yeah, makes sense…so, when am I gonna meet your friend, then?"

"Tomorrow," he said, eyes cutting between you and the stars overhead.

"Well that's soon. Alright, guess I'll bring an extra snack, then. Just tell him to be careful if he's not usually around the area." You took your hand away from his hair and stretched out on the pier with another yawn. "I think it's time to sleep, for both of us."

Bakugou groaned at the thought of a wasted day with so little time with you, but he couldn't deny the exhaustion making his eyelids heavy.

"The quicker you sleep, the faster tomorrow will come," you said with a tired chuckle before standing up from the pier and gathering up your things. "Our swimming lessons will need to wait for another day, then. Those will be for us only, how's that sound?"

His eyes fluttered open to look up at you looming over him, his sour mood dissipating at your suggestion as he watched the gentle movement of your hair against the cool breeze silhouetted against the dark night sky thinking your eyes looked like sparkling stars. All he could do was nod in response.

You smiled kindly at him while leaning down to place a gentle hand on his cheek, his own hand coming up to cover yours as he leaned comfortably into the touch. Unfortunately, the distinct sound of his stomach rumbling from lack of dinner brought him out of the peaceful moment with a groan.

"You haven't eaten? I really have spoiled you, huh? It's not really cold anymore but…" you reached down into your bag and pulled out a package that smelled distinctly of tuna and wasabi. "Nothing fancy today, but hopefully it'll do." As soon as the smell hit his nose Bakugou's mouth started watering, hunger and lack of energy overtaking his dignity as he nearly snatched the package from your hand.

"Is spoiled bad?" Bakugou asked as he ripped open the package.

You shook your head while still hovering over him. "Nah, not for you anyway. I don't mind." Giving Bakugou a gift of food seemed minimal in comparison to everything he'd provided you with, honestly, even if those things - besides the pearls - weren't physical. "Get some sleep, Bakugou."

Before he bit into the fish Bakugou grabbed your retreating hand and ran his webbed fingers through yours with a quick squeeze, craving one fleeting touch before you left. "Night."

"Goodnight," you whispered before pulling your hand away and turning to walk home, the old wood creaking under your steps until Bakugou could only hear the familiar sounds of the sea.

The next day before heading out to the beach you changed out of your work clothes and into something more casual and breathable; today felt unusually warm so anything to help cool you off would help. Grabbing a simple hat from your closet you took one last look in the mirror.

"I'm meeting Bakugou's friend today, I guess…mmhm, I'm glad he has someone else around to keep him company. He's alone whenever I'm not around…" Sometimes you felt guilty that you couldn't spend more time with him during the day, but evenings after work when the beach was empty were all you could manage while avoiding unwanted attention. There were a few times you'd been tempted to just pick him up and whisk him away to your apartment for a weekend, but the idea of basically stranding him in a bathtub left a bad taste in your mouth. Maybe if you found a better solution you'd consider it again, but right now wasn't the time to entertain the idea. "Oh! Almost forgot.." Before leaving you grabbed something from your bedside table and stuffed it in your pocket; your eyes lingered on the empty and dried oyster shell making you smile before heading out the door.

By this point you'd become well-versed in the schedules of any officers patrolling the area and when the shop owners closed for the evening, so avoiding prying eyes wasn't as difficult compared to when Bakugou first started appearing to you regularly. Just as suspected the coast was clear as you walked with a bag slung over your shoulder heavy with the items you took with you daily: food for yourself and Bakugou (and one extra, today), a bottle of water, a towel, a pair of binoculars, a waterproof flashlight, and a sturdy pair of scissors along with a few other things rolling around at the bottom; half of the items were added after specific incidents, so you just kept them handy in case of an emergency.

Your feet dangled lazily above the water, toes curling and uncurling as you leaned back on your hands to look at the open ocean in front of you. Most people only saw the beauty of the sea once, maybe twice a year if they were lucky or on vacation; you saw it everyday, and it honestly never stopped being beautiful as light glittered off the surface like dancing fairies.

A familiar touch graced across your foot. You looked around the beach and behind you to make sure the coast was clear before tapping on the wood, a signal to let your companion know it was safe to surface.

Looking over the edge of the pier you saw the familiar pale blonde hair and ruby eyes poking up out of the water. "Welcome back," you said with a smile. "Where's your friend?" He let out a huff underwater as bubbles floated up from his nose, mouth, and gills before rolling his eyes and dipping back under for a moment.

When Bakugou came back up, he wasn't alone.

A second pair of red eyes - wider and larger - met yours, along with a mop of bright red hair. He looked around nervously, eyes glancing around at the beach empty of people and the tall highrise condos that jutted up against the sky. His face was filled with wonderous curiosity at the new environment as you looked between him and Bakugou, whose sour mood from the previous day seemed to have returned. He was so spoiled keeping you all to himself, annoyed that he now had to share your company.

"Do all merpeople have red eyes?" you asked, curious at similarities between different merpeople. Your voice brought the newcomer's gaze back to you.

Bakugou shook his head. "Not all, just some," he replied. The red-head now looked between Bakugou and yourself before giving you a beaming smile with a mouth full of sharp teeth. He then issued a series of odd clicking sounds. Bakugou replied with similar sounds. This must be how they communicated - through a series of clicks similar to dolphins.

"Oh, cool…" you muttered to yourself. The new addition to your normally one-on-one meetings reached a hand up in an attempt to touch your foot, but Bakugou slapped it away with a possessive growl. "Bakugou…he's just curious and they're just feet. Remember when you were obsessed with my toes?" Averting his gaze he blew out another stream of annoyed bubbles. "What's his name?"

"Kirishima," Bakugou replied while keeping an eye on the merman next to him bobbing up and down in the water. Kirishima's curious eyes looked at Bakugou questioningly as he reached forward once more towards your feet. When he didn't get another slap and his hand made contact with the calloused skin under your toes his mouth curled into another smile. You already observed he seemed more happy-go-lucky than Bakugou.

While Kirishima occupied himself with exploring your feet - his touch wasn't as delicate as Bakugou's, so it was more entertaining than ticklish - Bakugou wasted no more time in making his way onto his usual spot on the pier next to you. He watched as Bakugou sat next to you, red eyes meeting red eyes. A silent hand wrapped around your back until his palm made contact with the hem of your shirt, though his attention was focused on his companion mesmerized by your feet and legs.

A series of clicks from below echoed up towards Bakugou who replied back with more sounds you couldn't understand. "What'd he say?" you asked.

"He said feet are weird." Bakugou just smirked because, honestly, Kirishima was right - feet were weird. He'd come to like yours, though; the way your toes curled when you laughed, or how the muscles and tendons in your feet and legs shifted when you stretched or walked…Bakugou noticed things, storing trinkets of information away even though they may never come up in any important capacity.

"Tch, yeah, he's right. But some people really like feet, don't ask me why." You thought of all the people out there with bizarre fetishes, though you quickly shoved those judgements away since you'd finally conceded to having severe and inescapable feelings towards Bakugou, a beautiful man with a fish tail; couldn't get much weirder than that, honestly. "You hungry?" you asked, wanting to change the subject. "I brought extra for your friend, too."

When Bakugou looked over at you - just the smallest tilt of his head was all it took - you knew you were smitten, his gaze pooling into you effortlessly and softening for you and only you. Now wasn't the time for confessions, however, not with a third-wheel watching the both of you from the water below.

You reached behind you to grab your bag and pulled out several small boxes of food. Bakugou's eyes widened at the offering, noticing you'd put his favorites in there along with a heaping spoonful of wasabi. You set your own box on your lap before dangling the last one out past your knees, gaining the attention of Kirishima who was now losing interest in your feet and ankles in favor of the new and interesting smell hitting his nose.

Bakugou didn't bother waiting for his friend as he stuffed a piece of marinated fish into his mouth, but jerked his head towards the empty side of the pier next to you while you gave the dark wood a pat, indicating that it was alright to sit.

Kirishima let go of your feet and smiled once more before diving under the water and coming back up to catch himself on the edge of the pier, just as Bakugou did. Kirishima's eyes scanned the length of the beach from the new height, taking in the buildings and road before housing himself up next to you. Bakugou's cautious eyes were trained on him, while yours were trained on Kirishima.

He seemed a bit taller than Bakugou, but not by much. The most noticeable difference was his bright red and black tail. It was nearly identical to Bakugou's aside from the scars, but there were also no glittering gold flecks that bounced back the golden sunlight as it slowly hid behind the flat horizon of the shifting ocean in the distance. Kirishima was also…attractive. Were all merpeople this handsome and buff? You took in the sight while Bakugou stewed silently behind you, angrily stuffing fish into his mouth.

He looked at you with a smile to rival the sun and you couldn't help but smile back. Ducking behind you suddenly there were more clicking sounds before Bakugou leaned back as well and - apparently - had an exchange that ended with Kirishima getting his cheek pulled, a red mark on his skin visible when he came back up next to you.

"Why are you bothering to hide while talking…? I can't understand you anyway," you asked Bakugou before opening up your own box of dinner.

"He…nervous." It was a terrible lie and he knew it, because Kirishima was, obviously, the complete opposite of shy as he shamelessly grabbed one of your hands and held it up to his, comparing the lack of webbing to his own. He couldn't let you see his face when Kirishima asked embarrassing questions, though.

"Sounds like bullshit but alright, fine, keep your secrets…" You mumbled before taking back your hand and offering up the extra box of food to your new companion. Kirishima watched both you and Bakugou and copied your movements as he opened the lid to reveal a sensation of new smells and colors and textures unfamiliar to his normal palette of raw still-alive fish. His eyes sparkled at the sight.

He promptly gobbled up the first piece before pausing. You looked at him with concern, wondering if he didn't like the food…until his face screwed up tightly into a bizarre mixture of exaggerated pleasure and sadness before shoving the rest of the food into his mouth, hardly taking a moment to chew before swallowing every last bite.

Bakugou's manners weren't quite as bad now compared to when the two of you first met; they were decidedly better now as he ate just one piece at a time.

"Uh…I guess he liked it?" you asked, turning to Bakugou with a concerned look.

He nodded. "He likes meat, not picky," he replied, but was cut off when a splash of red sprung forward as Kirishima wrapped his arms tightly around your shoulders and snuggled into the side of your face.

"What?!" You managed to shriek out at the unfamiliar touch and sudden contact. Hardly a moment later, though, Bakugou let out a growl before prying Kirishima's arms from you and shoving his face away from yours before pulling you to his chest. You'd nearly dropped your food down into the water from the struggle as you gathered your bearings.

Kirishima looked unsure, then apologetic as he looked between you and Bakugou who was poised at your back, a strong arm snaked around your middle. Another series of clicks bounced between the two mermen - Bakugou's more a hiss than anything else - before Kirishima lowered his hands and made no more initiative to come closer.

"Uh, Bakugou-"

He seemed to calm down at the sound of your voice, the raspiness subsiding and the grip around your torso loosening a small fraction.

"OK, we need to have a chat, here," you sighed before wiggling out of his grip and turning to face Bakugou fully. "You can't get mad every single time I'm talking with someone else. It was just a hug. An unexpected one, but still. I don't belong to you, I don't need protecting all the time."

His brows furrowed, mouth pulled into a tight line. "I know that!"

"Do you?" You met his stare with an equally unwavering look. Normally his protective nature was flattering when he wanted to keep you close, wary of those who might cause you harm. Since meeting Bakugou you'd become more sure of yourself, more resolute in what you wanted, and more outgoing; he made you feel confident and not as afraid to hide behind the masks that everyone around you grew familiar with. Now, though, he was even jealous of his friend - someone he wouldn't have let near you if Kirishima was dangerous - so you finally needed to draw a line in the sand. "We'll talk about this later…" you muttered while carding a hand through your hair.

Bakugou was silent as he tossed the uneaten pieces of fish off to the side with a scowl, no longer hungry.

In an attempt to dispel the awkwardness from the air and give Bakugou some space, you tried to teach Kirishima a couple of words, though it seemed he wasn't as quick a learner as Bakugou, struggling to make the correct sounds or pick up meanings. He also made sure not to touch you and kept a respectful distance after Bakugou's display. He sat leaning against one of the pillars at the corner of the pier watching your exchange with his friend with furrowed brows, rarely interjecting just to provide a translation. His gaze was listless as he stared across the ocean, strong arms folded across his chest as if guarding something unseen.

After a while you let out a sigh knowing what you said caused Bakugou's current mood. Leaving Kirishima to fend for himself for a minute you walked over to Bakugou, sitting down next to him as your legs dangled on the side of the pier normally to your left. He didn't look up, and instead tensed at your closeness.

"Look…sorry for what I said. I just don't want you to think I can't take care of myself, or tell someone 'no' when I need do. You've helped me be more confident with all that, honestly." You scratched the back of your neck while glancing up to gauge his reaction; he was looking at you from the corner of his eyes, though his body language was still reserved. "And I don't know why you get jealous anyway…it's not like anyone could ever replace you or take your spot, you're one-of-a-kind. You're special. I wouldn't exchange our time together to spend it with someone else. So don't feel, like, threatened or anything. Understand?"

Finally his shoulders relaxed and the muscles in his neck sunk down to a more unwary position as he turned to look at you with those ruby eyes that always caught the breath in your throat like a fist tangled up in warm crimson velvet.

"Yeah.." he finally replied with a long sigh. "You not…mine." Though he tried not to show it, to appear vulnerable and wanting, you could see the longing in his eyes and the inflection hidden behind the last word on his tongue. Your heart palpitated in your chest with the idea that he may want something more: you weren't his property, but someone _meaningful_ to him…and you were, but the look in his eyes told a story of craving more than just a friendship with fleeting touches and soft words whispered under moonlight. He didn't like others touching you, but he needed to understand you wouldn't let anyone get between you two. You were cut off from your thoughts - hoping he couldn't sense your racing pulse - as he continued.

"You strong. I know that." He was about to say something else but a creak in the wood brought his attention over to Kirishima who was lounging on his stomach, head in his hands, looking at the two of you with playful intrigue even though he had no idea what either of you were saying. Bakugou's eye twitched.

"Hey," you said, grabbing his attention back towards you. "You know I'm not going anywhere, right?" You needed to reassure him that you had no plans to go anywhere, to travel outside his realm of existence no matter how confined it was to the edge of an old weather-worn pier jutting out from a beach littered with broken sand castles and empty aluminum cans and memories meant for family photo albums.

The gentle breeze of the ocean glanced through strands of pale golden wheat, a gust pushing a section away from his face as he nodded. You brought your palm up to cup his cheek like a warm pillow kissed by the last rays of the setting sun before it sunk behind the horizon. "I know," he said once more, words repeated and words remembered.

The moment was heartfelt and tender, but with a third-wheel watching you didn't want it to get too sappy…so you decided to change the subject and, in turn, possibly make it even sappier. "I know what'll cheer you up!" You smiled while taking your hand away and stuffing it into your pants pocket. "Oh, close your eyes."

Bakugou blinked at the sudden change in your demeanor before squinting, mentally questioning your next move. "Why?" Rolling your eyes you paused in your movements.

"I'm giving you something, and it's gonna be a surprise. So…close your eyes and hold out your hand."

Red eyes met red eyes as he looked over at Kirishima - who still had no idea what was happening - who'd watched the affectionate display silently, red and black tail swishing just above the water like a foot tapping impatiently. With a sigh Bakugou closed his eyes and held out his hand, palm up, ready to receive whatever you had planned.

Instead he felt something wrap around his wrist, your fingers brushing his skin as you secured whatever it was before retreating. "OK, open your eyes."

Wasting no time he opened his eyes to stare at the strange object now wrapped around his wrist. It was a bracelet made of woven strands, not very wide but thick enough to show off the patterning of different colors weaving in and out of each other: orange, pale yellow, and black. A weight tugged at the bracelet, pulling it down with gravity to reveal a charm. It was marbled in color, off-white mixed with warm brown that tapered into a tip like a long triangle held onto the bracelet with a golden clasp.

Bakugou didn't speak as he brought his wrist to his face to better inspect the striped bracelet now attached to him. His eyes were wide and lips parted slightly as he analyzed the patterning and charm. "What…is it?" he asked, eyes flickering to you for an answer. At this point you couldn't tell if he actually liked it or not which made your stomach twist into knots.

"It's a bracelet, it's like jewelry I guess. I wanted to give you something to keep, just like how you gave me something. Not food, or stories, but something to take with you when I'm not around. I, uh, made it. Sorry if it's kinda-"

"You made it?!" he spat out, now mesmerized by the bracelet after realizing the fingers he enjoyed intertwining with his own could also create things like this _for him._

"Uh, yeah." You hadn't expected such an outburst at the idea you could make something, even if it was just a simple bracelet. "So, remember the books I showed you a while back? About animals?" Bakugou nodded but his attention was still on the gift. "I remembered that you liked tigers, and their colors are kinda like your tail…so I just smooshed the two together! And the charm is a rock shaped like a tiger tooth because…you can't legally buy real tiger teeth…also illegal ones are expensive. Anyway!" Your arms moved wildly while avoiding his face, still worried that he might not like the gift. "I thought about a necklace at first, but then I thought your gills might get in the way and didn't want anything around your neck…I don't even know if you have jewelry or anything where you're from…shit, now I'm just rambling."

"So…it's mine?" he asked almost hesitantly, double checking that this was indeed his.

"Yeah, it's yours to keep. Do you like it?" The question hung in the air while you waited for an answer. It had taken some time to figure out something to gift him that wouldn't deteriorate in water - you used some fairly durable thread after doing some preliminary research - but still make it personalized to him with the colors and attached charm; a reminder of you to wake up to.

A smug grin suddenly lit up his face as he held up his hand in the air to show it off to an invisible audience. He lowered his hand, palms flat against dark wood of the pier as he leaned forward into your personal space. "I do like it," Bakugou admitted easily with a smirk as he seemed to move closer to you with each passing second…before suddenly falling to your right as Kirishima grabbed his wrist to look at the bracelet with intense curiosity.

They bickered for a minute clicking back and forth to each other - Bakugou through gritted teeth and Kirishima with a wide grin - before they devolved into more hushed whispers as you grabbed the bottle of water from your bag. Even though you couldn't understand what they were saying the conversation seemed serious, studying Kirishima's gestures as he pointed at the bracelet and yourself, Bakugou following along with a soft scowl.

"Does he want a bracelet, too?" you asked, bringing their attention back to you. Bakugou's expression softened - as it often did - when he turned back towards you.

He shook his head, though, pulling his wrist away from his friend's grip. "No," he answered with a huff and…if you weren't mistaken, the smallest hint of dejection flickered across his face before disappearing as quickly as it arrived. You could tell he was being reserved with information, but you didn't want to push it and cause another bad mood. Kirishima, laying on his stomach while looking between Bakugou and yourself, also carried an unreadable expression distinct from his earlier jovial ones.

"I wouldn't make him one, anyway. It's just a gift for you." The fingers of Bakugou's free hand ran gently across the woven texture of the bracelet as if to memorize each and every strand, the lines of his brow and mouth finally relaxing into something comfortable. Kirishima tapped Bakugou's tail with a knuckle and said something with another series of clicks. Maybe he sensed an air of tension and wanted to change the subject as he pointed to the flickering lamps spaced evenly down the pier.

Bakugou rolled his eyes as he, too, let whatever was on his mind slip off his shoulders like a stray water droplet sliding down the curve of a car after heavy rain. "He ask how the lights work."

Well, it seems he asked one of the few things you couldn't confidently answer: how to explain the concept of electricity to someone with zero prior knowledge. "Uh…it's hard to explain? As in, of course I know how it works but it would take too long to explain electricity and electrical current to someone in one night…obviously." Bakugou raised a skeptical eyebrow before giving what you could only assume some made-up explanation to Kirishima, who seemed enamored with whatever his answer was.

The questions continued as the sky shifted to the familiar darkness highlighted by the bright moon sitting still above the waves. Eventually you made your way back to your spot by Bakugou, sandwiched between the blonde and the red-head, though Kirishima continued to keep his distance.

Bakugou continued to act as translator, though you suspected he was getting annoyed by the continual flow of questions. Some of the questions Bakugou posed seemed slightly made-up, like he'd edited whatever Kirishima said, but you answered anyway with a knowing look. A few times Bakugou outright refused to translate but he wouldn't tell you why, though seeing Kirishima's eyebrows move up and down you could only guess at what he wanted to know.

"Was I this annoying?" he asked after you answered a question about the purpose the tall buildings at the far end of the beach.

"Mm, no, not to me anyway. I don't mind answering questions. It's kinda weird, though? Because everything you guys ask about is just…normal to me? But your experiences and what's normal to you are things I don't see, either. I like knowing more about you, though." You leaned your head against his shoulder, hands perched behind you on the cold wood. Despite having another person there, you weren't particularly embarrassed about closing the occasional gap between Bakugou and yourself; if anything, you wanted to show him - reassure him - that his friend wouldn't come between the two of you.

The red-tailed merman caught his attention with what you assumed was another question, though he looked hesitant to ask it. Bakugou seemed to mull it over for a moment before translating. "He ask…what would happen if humans found us. Besides you."

"Oh…as in, what would they do to you?" He nodded. You lifted your head from his shoulder, the weight of the question sinking into you like an anchor. It was something you'd thought about a lot - the fear of what might happen if Bakugou was seen and captured by other people. It wasn't a comforting speculation. "I don't…know, exactly. I've told you that people think you're made up, not real. If someone found you…they'd probably steal you away. Take you from the ocean to study you somewhere far away."

Bakugou grimaced at your answer. "Take me away…?"

You leaned your chin in the palm of your hand, eyes heavy and unfocused. "Yeah. You've seen fishing nets. They'd probably capture you in a net, and you'd never see the ocean again." You fixed him with a hard stare as he processed the information. "Bakugou, that's why you - and your friend," you said looking quickly over to Kirishima, "have to be careful. People can be very bad, and I'd…if someone took you-"

He interrupted your train of thought as it started to spiral down into dangerous territory with a thumb pressed to your lips. His expression was stern with ruby eyes unwavering. "The promise I made."

"The…?" You weren't sure what he meant at first, trying to remember the moment he was referring to.

"To come back." A sensation like a sudden gust of wind fluttered into your lungs as the memory of his words filled your chest with the tickle of unseen flower petals. They were his words, and he remembered. The night he came back after disappearing, he'd promised not to go anywhere, to return to you. You couldn't help but smile.

"If someone took you I'd go in and kick their ass to get you back, anyway. As if I'd let some assholes keep you," you laughed as you leaned back and acted like you were about to punch him in the arm, but stopped short before you made contact. He grinned, fangs glinting under the remnants of light from the lamps farther down the pier.

"I'd kick their ass!" he said proudly, flexing his muscles proudly in a self-indulgent display. You cleared your dry throat with the reminder of just how attractive he was, especially because you now assumed _he knew exactly what he was doing_ and tried to make you flustered on purpose. The wood on your other side creaked as, when you turned around, you saw Kirishima making a similar pose displaying his own muscles with a bright smile, wanting to copy his friend for no reason other than to feel included in the conversation. You missed Bakugou's pissed-off look behind you.

"Would you win against Kirishima?" Turning back around he quickly hid the snarl forming on his lips. "In a fight?" He looked at you almost offended that you even posed the question.

His body language oozed confidence as he gestured to himself, the bracelet on his wrist swinging from the motion. "Hell yeah." By the unwavering echo of his voice, the answer wasn't up for debate.

"Are you sure? He looks pretty strong…" You knew Bakugou wouldn't back down from a challenge to show off, especially if it meant proving he was the best at something. The goad seemed to work as he leaned over your lap and said something to Kirishima…who gestured back to himself as if to say _I'm stronger, obviously._

"You would not!" he yelled suddenly, despite knowing Kirishima wouldn't understand. Bakugou reached forward in an attempt to swat at his friend and prove him wrong.

"Boys, boys!" you said, holding your hands up in mock truce to both of them as they seemed to bicker with a series of fast clicks and growls. "We can settle this with a little contest."

Both of them looked up at you, a plan formulating to settle the debate with some friendly competition.

Kirishima and Bakugou each hung off one side of a corner of the pier. It was dark at this late hour, but honestly the excitement of the night had given you a second wind when normally you'd be heading home by now. Bakugou gripped Kirishima's hand tightly, their elbows anchored into the hard wooden planks as you sat in front as unofficial referee.

"OK, you got the rules down?" Bakugou rolled his eyes but nodded. Kirishima mirrored the move after Bakugou explained the idea behind arm wrestling. "You guys ready?" You held up one hand and couldn't help but smile at the idea of judging a contest of strength between two mermen in the middle of the night.

"What I get when I win?" Bakugou asked confidently, red eyes cutting to you quickly before staring down his opponent who had an expression of equal excitement and concentration.

You tapped on your chin as you thought about it, wondering what might make Bakugou go all-out with something like this. A sudden, mischievous thought popped into your head, and it was perfect, something to elevate the stakes. Bakugou did a double take at your smirk.

"How about…a kiss?" It was completely innocent, right? A peck on the cheek, short and punctual. He always got you flustered, so why not reverse the game? Bakugou's eyes immediately went wide and his muscles stilled as he looked at you with parted lips, his cheeks flaring up viciously.

"A…?!" Words failed him, which you thought was honestly pretty adorable.

"So you better win!" You fixed him with a pointed stare knowing your own face felt flushed before he turned to Kirishima with a vicious look of determination. Kirishima had no idea why he suddenly looked so flustered, but he didn't let it distract him from trying his best to win.

As soon as you brought your hand down as a signal to start, the fight was on.

The muscles in Bakugou's arm trembled as he held onto the pier with the other, fingers digging into the edge of the wood. Kirishima grit his sharp teeth in retaliation, red eyes fixed on red eyes as neither backed down. The wood under Kirishima's hand started to splinter, his grip tightening as Bakugou started gaining ground like a charging bull enraged and energized at the sight of blood. It was a back-and-forth for nearly a minute as you watched with bated breath. You knew that if Kirishima won you wouldn't really have to kiss him since had no idea there was even a prize - he just wanted to win against his friend and prove he was strong.

If Bakugou won…well, he'd get the prize.

They both looked tired, sweat beading on their brows and jaws clenched tightly, hands stressed from the death grip they were giving each other. Bakugou seemed to falter for a split second before looking towards his opponent and, in the process, saw the bracelet hanging onto his wrist. His chest filled with a renewed fire as he let out a triumphant yell and slammed Kirishima arm into the wood, nearly shaking the whole pier in the process.

They were both out of breath, but Bakugou didn't waste any time in pointing a finger in Kirishima's face to prove that he was, indeed, the strongest. Kirishima groaned before dropping down below to hit the water and cool off after the intense competition.

"You won! Holy shit you're strong," you said as Bakugou stretched his fingers and arm to loosen his muscles, a victorious grin and wild eyes plastered on his face.

"Don't move," he grit out as his heavy breathing slowed, pointing a finger in your face before dropping down just like Kirishima into the dark water below. After a minute they both came back up. Kirishima honestly didn't look that beat up about losing since it was a fair fight, and he knew it took every ounce of energy for Bakugou to beat him.

Bakugou hoisted himself back up onto the dark pier. Despite the lack of light his wet hair still danced and his ruby eyes still sparkled and his tail still glistened as salty water cascaded down from his head down to his tail and disappeared like forgotten rain into the wood. He turned to face you, the corner of his mouth pulling into a knowing smile. "Well?" You knew what he wanted, and who were you to deny what he earned?

"Fine, you're so greedy…" You laughed as you moved closer, paying no mind to the other merman sitting on the opposite end of the pier, though his eyes were focused curiously on the display.

You gripped Bakugou's chin gently feeling his pulse under your fingertips and the texture of his skin on yours as you moved in closer. You could see him swallow as if his throat was thick with molasses. When you were just inches from his face - beautiful and determined and unforgettable - you turned his head sharply as your lips made contact with the skin of his cheekbone.

He tasted like salt and your lips felt cool as you breathed in his scent of strong water and a faint whisper of firewood only noticeable when he was close enough to embrace. You felt his own pulse under your skin, alive and heavy and quick. A strand of golden hair brushed your nose as you pulled away, your tongue running along the inside of your lips to savor the fleeting taste of him. Your palm never left his jawline.

"One kiss is all you get…" The sea breeze stilled as he turned to look at you; it would only take a nudge to connect with him again, the smallest of pushes to brush your lips with his. Once again he gave you a look that could easily swallow you whole, an entire ocean of rose petals endless in his eyes, mesmerizing in their depth and hue.

"I keep winning, then," was all he said in response - a whisper only you could hear - the raspiness gone and replaced with the sweet heaviness of the molasses previously stuck in his throat as it clung to his tongue and the roof his mouth as he received a small taste of something wonderful.

Movement off to the side made the hair on the back of Bakugou's neck stand on end as he let out a low growl…he kept forgetting that they had an observer. You both looked over at the same time to see Kirishima grinning from ear to ear as he reached over nonchalantly and ate the rest of Bakugou's discarded dinner from earlier.

"Hey!" Bakugou reached over - pulling his chin from your grip - and lunged at Kirishima, though there was no malice or ill-will as they tussled for the remaining bites of food. You really were glad Bakugou had someone, a friend, that could understand him and give him company in ways you couldn't. Hell, you couldn't even swim, let alone help him in any capacity outside of the limited scope of the pier.

As you looked at the two mermen something in the distance on the beach caught your eye. Squinting and moving closer to the other end of the pier you got a better look at the blurred shadows moving slowly towards you. People... _shit._

"Hey, hey!" You whispered, bonking Bakugou and Kirishima on the head to grab their attention and stop bickering. Holding up a finger to your lips Bakugou understood it meant "be quiet" and clapped a hand over his friend's mouth to shut him up as well. You jerked your head towards the beach, Bakugou looking out and seeing the figures. He scoffed, brows knit together and he knew this meant they had to leave.

"You gotta get outta here, alright?" You looked apologetic, staring at Bakugou as he continued to look out at the dark figures walking along the coast. You wanted to ask him about earlier - what he and his friend discussed in hushed tones over what you assumed to be your gift. If there was something wrong with it - maybe it was an offensive gift to give merpeople? - then you wanted to know…or maybe it meant something else and Bakugou was just too reserved to spill the truth to you. Either way, there was no time to ask about it tonight. He said something to Kirishima who also looked out into the dark sand of the beach. He nodded before turning to you with one finela smile before moving to ease himself down on the side of the pier parallel to the unseen road.

"Sorry we gotta cut this short. Tell Kirishima it was fun meeting him and he can come visit-"

"No," Bakugou grit out, thinking about the moments with you made awkward by the red-headed merman.

You just rolled your eyes. "…anytime. Yeah, yeah, that is up to you I guess. Be safe." Before heading over to Kirishima who was gesturing for Bakugou to hurry up, he pulled you in by the collar of your shirt, breath warm and incredibly close on your ear as your cheeks rubbed together. His lips brushed your skin as lightly as the flit of hummingbird wings against flower petals; it sent shivers down your spine all the way to your toes.

"I will, (y/n)." He pulled away and you felt another pang, an invisible magnetism to pull him closer…but he had to hide, had to flee. Bakugou let go of your shirt and, with one final glance, slipped silently over the edge of the pier after Kirishima and disappeared into the darkness with a small splash.

You avoided the shadows on the beach as you made your way home, tiredness finally hitting you since it was close to midnight at this point. Taking out your keys you slid it easily into your front door before closing it behind you before sliding down onto the floor. A heavy sigh escaped through your nose.

"I'm so fucked…" You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth as you closed your eyes as the corners of your mouth curved up into a smile. Shaking your head, you knew you'd dream of Bakugou's scent on your lips…silently hoping he was dreaming of the same thing.

 **Thank you as always for reading! Please leave a review if you're enjoying the story!**


	13. Chapter 13

**NOTE!** This chapter takes place BEFORE the events of Chapters 11 and 12. This is non plot-essential fluff that I decided to write when I got…ideas…that needed to be expressed before the story's conclusion. Hopefully everyone enjoys this little snippet of everyday interaction!

The general store was crowded with tourists, families grabbing up towels and beach necessities like bottled water and sunscreen before heading back to their sky-reaching condos and preparing for a weekend at the beach. You, however, were just there grocery shopping.

"Why don't I ever make lists…? Oh, I always forget to make lists. An endless cycle…" you mumbled while leaning against the metal cart with squeaky wheels as it slid over the scuffed tiles of the floor. Food for the week? Check. Bathroom stuff? Check. That thing you don't need but it was on clearance so you immediately tossed it into your buggy? Check.

While passing by the area with new video game and movie titles your eyes wandered up to the many TV's and computers lining the wall bleached from fluorescent light. Every single one looped through the same footage of picturesque ocean views, sweeping shots of the expansive beach (though some details made it seem like a beach suspiciously different from the one down the street), and finally, underwater video of somewhere far off from the coast of hundreds of fish or breaching whales or talkative dolphins.

You were about to pass by into the next section of the store when an idea hit you, the bright saturated blues and teals of the TV screens flitting into your peripheral vision once more.

"Shit…I'm so damn smart, he'll get a kick out of this." You tossed one more impromptu item into your cart before weaving in and out of a crowd of airbrushed t-shirts and gaudy swimwear.

You rapped your knuckles against the pier. Every board, every knot, every imperfection in the weather-worn wood was intimately familiar to you at this point as you sat and waited. It didn't take long for familiar fingers to wrap themselves around your foot. Bakugou hoisted himself up out of the water like always, settling himself between your knees as he shook his hair clean of excess water.

"Stop, stop! Asshole…" You wiped your face clean of seawater but the corners of your mouth tugged into a smile knowing Bakugou still enjoyed riling you up. Pulling your bag closer you reached in to grab a towel now regularly kept at the bottom to dry yourself off from his shenanigans.

You draped the towel around your neck while Bakugou situated himself up on the pier next to you before holding out his hand expectantly. You just looked at it.

"Uh…excuse me?"

"Where's my food?" It was such a dry and casual command you couldn't help but scoff at his demanding look.

"Uh, wow? Not even a greeting today, just wanting handouts?" you questioned while fixing him with a pointed stare. His fingers opened and closed, reiterating that his palm was still empty. You just crossed your arms over your chest and ignored him. "You get nothing."

Bakugou openly gaped at your answer. "What?!" It was true that there were very rare days that you didn't hand him a free meal, so he'd just come to expect it at this point. He was spoiled rotten from your doting attention, but you wouldn't let him take advantage of your generosity without at least minimal courtesy.

"Hmm? What's that?" you asked to no one in particular while trying to ignore the incredulous look on his face; you knew he hated being ignored. "I have all this extra food and no one to feed it to, oh well I guess I'll just go home then and eat it all by myself-"

A low growl echoed from the pit of his throat before he let out a notable huff as his hands clenched and unclenched into frustrated fists; you could tell he was having an internal struggle between wanting to be defiantly obstinate and wanting to butter you up so you'd hand over the food. His manners had drastically improved since you two first met, but you'd figured out that being justly slightly demanding was a permanent personality trait. "…Please?" he muttered, one eye twitching with impatience.

"Once more and I'll give it to you."

He acted like he was about to shove you over the pier and into the water, but seemed to switch to a different idea at the last second. Bakugou leaned in close - very close - and uttered the word once more into your ear in a tone you could almost define as sultry; he knew how to push your buttons, the bastard…so you handed over the food before he made any more moves to make you melt. You could practically feel the smirk though he wasn't actually touching you as he took the box from your outstretched hand.

Bakugou turned and leaned against your shoulder while he ate and you recounted the generally boring day of casual routine. He chimed in every once in a while with questions or to offer the usual advice of "tell them to shut up" or "tch, sounds dumb." While he had his own struggles to deal with, Bakugou didn't have to go to a boring office job everyday and deal with overbearing and intrusive coworkers.

"Hey, did you have a job or a task or anything before you left? Like…what did you do, I guess is what I'm asking." You knew he sometimes avoided questions asking about his home, but maybe this one wasn't digging too deeply into wounds that you hoped were slowly closing.

He licked his fingers clean of wasabi before deciding to answer. "I gathered food, hunted with others. Trained to get strong." You could feel the muscles work between his shoulder blades as they contracted and released.

"You are strong, so the training paid off," you said, hoping to diffuse any tension Bakugou was deciding to hide.

"You not wrong." Though you couldn't see his face from this angle you could tell he was smiling as he said it. After finishing your own meal you pulled your bag to you and dug inside to grab the surprise you'd bought earlier.

"I was at the store today and saw something that I'm honestly surprised I hadn't even thought of until now," you said while pulling out a hand-sized box decorated with digitally-altered images of bubbles and pool toys. "It's sort of a gift for you I guess? But it's for me, too."

Bakugou turned around from your shoulder and promptly grabbed the cardboard box out of your hand, turning it around and analyzing the pictures and text; he couldn't read at all but even with the pictures on the front he was still lost. "What is it?" Grabbing the box back from him you opened it up and pulled out the item wrapped in plastic, tossing the trash into your bag to throw away later.

"It's an underwater camera. You can take this underwater - not super deep, though - and take pictures." You'd told him about cameras before but he wasn't particularly fond of the artificial light created from your phone screen, so you didn't often show him pictures or things on any electronic devices. It made sense that if he was used to the low-light environment underwater and natural sunlight that anything brighter might take time to adjust to, but he generally scoffed at it so you just put your phone away in your bag or pocket when the two of you were together.

"Like picture books?" Bakugou grabbed the camera back out of your hands to turn it around and analyze the water-tight hard plastic covering the black and orange camera. There was a button on the top that he pressed experimentally, earning a distinct *click* from somewhere inside the camera. You tried to take it back to show him how to use it but he just held his hand up above his head out of your reach; his arms were just slightly longer than yours. "Tell me how it work."

With a sigh you brought down your outstretched fingers; his armpit was basically in your face at this point and the opportunity was too tempting to pass up…so you wiggled your fingers under his arm in an experiment to see if he was ticklish, a base attempt to get back at all the times he'd grabbed your toes.

He jerked his arm down quickly, sandwiching your hand between his torso and arm muscles like a clamp. You didn't miss the way his lip twitched in the early stages of a laugh, however; you stowed the information away for later as you tried to wrestle your arm back.

"Give me back my hand."

"No, tell me how camera work!"

"I will if you-"

"Nope." You tried wiggling your fingers under his armpit but he clamped down harder preventing any other movement, your hand now resembling a sweaty piece of deli meat squished between two muscled pieces of bread. He held out the camera in front of him like it was no effort at all to keep you pinned to his side. "So?"

Relaxing your arm you resigned that he'd always win in a battle of strength and your hand was now trapped until you gave him what he wanted. "Alright, alright…cameras take pictures, like I said. If you press the button on top, it stores an image of whatever you see through the viewfinder -" you said, pointing with your free hand at the small window at the top of the camera, "inside the camera that can be printed out later."

Bakugou lifted the camera up to his eye and looked around across the orange and blue sea mirroring the sinking sun. Before he pressed the button on top, though, you managed to reach over and snatch it away. "Hey!"

"There aren't endless pictures on here. There are only…shit, can I have my hand back?" He just smirked and shook his head, the muscles in his arm contracting against your hand. "Fine, little shit…" You set the camera down and picked the box back out of your bag. "It only has forty pictures on here so if you waste one now, you'll have fewer to use underwater."

"Why you want pictures?" Bakugou reached across your lap - your hand still trapped under his armpit - to grab back the camera.

You hesitated a moment before answering. "Well…you see stuff that I don't get to see. Maybe I'd like to see things from your perspective. Where you sleep, or maybe you have a favorite place that you think looks cool. But if there's no picture, I probably won't ever see it since I can't breathe underwater." This was a two-way street, really; you couldn't fully immerse yourself in Bakugou's world, and he was even more limited when it came to being on land. All he knew was the pier and the beach. Sometimes you wished you could show him more because there was so much to see and experience - even if they were ordinary to you - and he just…couldn't. You were reminded of his limitations, despite integrating surprisingly quickly into your world as you taught him your language and about animals and food.

Acting like he'd read your mind he posed a question. "If I take pictures, you take pictures." He looked at you, finally loosening the grip of his arm enough for you to slide your - now sweaty - hand out. Stretching your fingers you looked between Bakugou and the camera held in his other hand.

"Uh…you want me to take pictures? Of what?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Where you sleep, eat, favorite place. Same things you want." You inwardly cringed at the idea of taking a picture of your messy bed for him…though it was honestly flattering that he was curious about the mundane things in your own life that seemed, to you, boring in comparison to the vibrancy and life beneath the waves.

"You wanna see that stuff? It probably won't be as nice to look at compared to whatever you take pictures of-"

He scoffed before pinching your cheek - not too hard, but enough to catch you off guard. "We make deal: mine for yours." You were about to reach your tongue out and lick his fingers to make him let go of your face, but thought better of it and just reached up and pinched his own cheek in retaliation.

"Fine!"

Bakugou glared as he pinched your face harder creating a tug-of-war as you both tried to pull away while neither wanted to give in. By the time you both let go your cheek was red…but so was his; you couldn't help but laugh at the agitated look on his face.

A sudden thought burst into your brain like an unexpected firework. "Bakugou…have you ever seen yourself?" Running a thumb across his cheekbone he looked over at you with a quirked eyebrow.

"What?" he asked, looking from you back down to his hands and tails. "Yeah?"

You didn't think he understood the question properly. "No, I mean, have you ever seen what your face looks like? Of course you can see everything below your head, but I mean do you know what your hair or eyes look like?" There was nothing naturally as reflective as a mirror underwater that you could think of, so unless merpeople had their own version of a mirror then this could be yet another new thing for him to discover.

He seemed to ponder the question for a moment before answering with an air of frustration at his realization. "I see me in water…that's it." Leaning in closer, though, a sudden smirk lit across his features. "I know I'm handsome." His ruby eyes bore into yours as you groaned feeling the blood rush to your ears and still-red-cheek.

"Yeah, you are, you smug-faced merman. That settles it then, I guess I'll bring a mirror tomorrow."

He didn't move away as he asked his next question. "What a mirror?"

"It's a thing humans use to look at themselves, it gives you a perfect reflection of what you look like - it doesn't move around like water does. So you get a camera and a mirror - two gifts, so don't give me an attitude about food." He scoffed at the implication of having an attitude - though you were sure he knew it was true - while turning the camera around in his hands once more and holding it up to one of his eyes, aiming the viewfinder somewhere far off in the horizon before turning and facing you, lense and plastic waterproof coating staring back at you.

Having your picture taken wasn't a favorite past time, and for some reason having Bakugou mimic capturing you in a photo, his finger hovering over the button you'd explained earlier, seemed like a moment in time suspended. Still, you smiled at the camera, a line of condos cutting the sand and road off from the darkening sky like a photoshoot backdrop. The button clicked, and Bakugou didn't mind as the number ticked down.

After a few more hours of casual conversation you stood up from the pier, dusting yourself off as it was time to head home. "Oh, one more thing. You'll have to take pictures during the day so the light is good. If it's too dark, they won't turn out that great."

He nodded while watching you pack up your things and prepare to head to your own home. "Don't forget the deal," he reminded almost ominously. You paused for a moment before remembering that you'd promised to take pictures of your own home and life.

"Yeah, it's a deal. I'll bring a mirror tomorrow like I mentioned, too." Swinging your bag over your shoulder Bakugou gazed at you from the edge of the pier with the same look he always gave as you left to go back home; normally he was an open book, his snarkiness or agitation or amusement evident on his face…but you could never quite place what he was thinking when he looked at you like he was right now, despite seeing it nearly everyday. It was intense and deep, as if memorizing your silhouette everyday was an event of deep importance…but that was just a fantasy you hoped might be true. Maybe one day he'd tell you the reason behind the look, or you'd figure it out for yourself.

"Have fun taking pictures tomorrow, I'm eager to see the things you find interesting underwater," you said before waving him off into the night, your walking shadow flickering under the cascade of yellow artificial lights dripping from metal posts tacked to the pier. You heard a familiar splash and knew he was gone.

Setting your bag down by the front door you opened it and grabbed the food waste and camera trash and tossed it into the garbage under your kitchen sink. You looked around your apartment, taking in the sparse decorations and minimal furniture. Living alone meant you didn't need to fill up space with a large couch or wide TV to suit multiple people, the loveseat and dusty television you'd had since college suiting your solitary lifestyle just fine. Still, you couldn't help but think: your place was boring.

"The hell am I supposed to take pictures of…the fridge? I don't know what he wants, but I guess anything is fine since he probably won't ever see any of it so it's all new to him, anyway." A soft purr came from your ankles, the vibrations of your cat tickling your bare skin. "You always smell the fish when I come home," you mumbled while heading into the kitchen to fix your pet some dinner. "Shit, I can take at least a few pictures of you, huh? There weren't any house cats in those picture books. I wonder if merpeople have pets…do they keep fish as pets? Like that one kid's movie? Shit, I'm getting distracted."

Your cat sniffed at the food with suspicion - as if he didn't eat the same thing everyday - until finally lapping up the canned meat mixed with some dry food. "You're just as picky as Bakugou…OK, now where to start."

It was late, but there were still a few hours before your normal bedtime so you took the opportunity to survey your apartment for anything remotely interesting while also thinking of places you could snap pictures of outside your home. Since you could just print off pictures from your phone you had no use for an old-fashioned camera bought at the store; the convenience of quickly-advancing technology was a wonder, sometimes.

Quickly making your bed into a semi-tidy state, you took a picture.

Clearing off the kitchen counter of dirty glasses and a half-eaten box of crackers, you took a picture.

Tossing your dirty clothes laying on the bathroom floor into the hamper you rarely used, you took a picture. Your shower curtain had seashells on it, the rest of your bathroom decorated with typical ocean-themed knick knacks; you knew he'd make fun of you for it.

"What was I…oh, the mirror!" You grabbed a hand mirror laying on the counter, cleaning off the remnants of toothpaste spittle and smudged fingerprints, before walking out the bathroom and tossing it into your bag. "It's a terrible idea, he'll be even more smug once he sees how damn pretty he is. Now…c'mere, you."

As if on cue your cat scuttled from the room and out of sight. "You love looking cute when I have stuff to do, but when I actually want you to do something you get shy. Typical cat." It took some coaxing with a bag of treats but eventually he made his way to the small cat tree in the corner of the living room where he dug his kitty claws into the scratching post. "Now just…stay…" You managed one picture before the scratching post was forgotten and instead he decided to make biscuits on your thigh.

"What if you met Bakugou? Would you think he's food because he kinda smells like fish? He'd be so pissed if you bit him…would make a hilarious story, though." Aiming the camera down at your lap you snapped another picture. "So…domestic. Alright, what's next…?" Standing up the cat hopped from your lap with an annoyed meow as you walked towards the back of your apartment and opened up a sliding glass door.

This side of the building faced opposite the ocean. Your apartment sat in the middle of the building - about five stories up - giving you a decent view of the city. Roads glittered with moving headlamps from cars traveling long stretches with sleeping children in the backseats and coolers stuffed with melted ice and cheap boxed lunches sloshing around in cramped car trunks. The occasional sound of laughter or yelling echoed on the sidewalks as people drunk on friendship and lust stumbled their way to unfamiliar apartments or into dirty taxi cabs. You were never one for going out to clubs or loud social events, but people watching late at night when you couldn't sleep provided entertainment when you grew tired of watching the same sitcom over and over again.

You snapped a couple of pictures, though half of the view was blocked by more new high-rise hotels and office buildings. Looking back through your phone the picture was grainy due to the low light, but it still wasn't half-bad. "I'll take another one in the morning before work, or in the afternoon."

Walking back inside you stopped at the table sitting in front of your couch and picked up a single photo stuffed into a frame you'd found on a clearance rack. It was a few years old but was one of the few physical pictures you owned. Your parents flanked either side of you, your dad with a long arm across your shoulders and your mother standing on the opposite side with that familiar smile you grew up with. They didn't live nearby so you didn't visit often, but you got along well enough. "I wonder what Bakugou's parents are like…" you mumbled, about to take a photo with your phone before it dawned on you how dumb you were. "I'm…stupid." Sliding the phone back into your pocket you opened up the back of the frame and took the picture out, sliding it into the pocket of your bag with the mirror.

After taking a few more pictures with better lighting the next morning, you grabbed the bus to work - taking a picture of the bus as well - and endured the first half of the day with minimal distractions. You couldn't take pictures of your computer or anything (company policy) and your office building was honestly too unassuming for it to be interesting. Instead you decided to head out on your lunch break to one of your favorite spots within walking distance.

The food vendor took the cash from your hand before you walked down a simple concrete path flanked by bushes sprouting a variety of flowers before you found yourself at the familiar bench underneath a shady tree sitting neatly in a corner of the small park area. This time of day few people passed by, the park hidden from the road often filled with tourists by a line of office buildings.

From this distance the smell of salt and sand was far away, but the familiar breeze of the ocean wound its way through the alleys between the offices, tickling the flowers like fairy dust. It was peaceful here.

You snapped a picture, viewing it in your phone gallery afterwards. "Glad I didn't go into photography…" you shrugged, knowing Bakugou probably wouldn't know a good picture from a bad one; or if he did, he hopefully wouldn't mind.

Before you left the park one of the flower bushes caught your eye. Among the leaves of green bloomed an unfamiliar flower with a simple pattern of petals…but the color was a brilliant crimson. Without a second thought you snatched one up and brought it back into the office.

By the time you made it home you'd managed to take the same number of pictures available on Bakugou's camera, so you two were now even in the exchange. The bookstore where you bought the picture books and a fish market with fresh fillets over ice were now included in the digital gallery. After changing clothes and packing your bag you headed down the familiar path to the pier and waited for your companion.

It didn't take long for Bakugou to show up, the gifted camera sitting in one of his hands. He actually greeted you properly while handing over the device and didn't make the same immediate demand for food as the previous day.

"Did you have fun taking pictures?" While a bit scratched, the plastic casing seemed to be holding up well, the camera still sitting dry inside. "I took the same amount so we'd be even. I'll print them out so they'll be ready to look at tomorrow."

"Mine are better than yours," he said smugly, as if anticipating he'd be a great photographer on the first try.

"Oh yeah, you think so?"

He clicked his tongue. "Tch, yes. Wasn't hard." You just hummed with raised eyebrows knowing a lack of confirmation or argument would rile him up…but you could bring him back down easily enough with the smell of sushi.

After the two of you ate you reached into your bag and pulled out the hand mirror, silently hoping seeing himself wouldn't inflate his ego too much. "OK, so…ready to see yourself?"

"Eh?" Bakugou mumbled, one finger stuck in his mouth as he licked off the last remnants of fish. You went ahead and shoved the mirror in his face. It took him a moment to react, but suddenly he snatched the hand mirror from you and held it up close as you watched his reactions.

He turned his head from side to side, analyzing the strong curve of his jaw and the cut of his cheekbones before carding his hand through his hair, crimson eyes gliding from scalp to pale blonde ends. The next thing he did was open his mouth wide to get a good look at his teeth, sticking his tongue out; from your perspective he looked like someone going to the dentist and you couldn't help but laugh causing his eyes to cut over to you, one finger still sliding over the small upper fangs before sliding into a sly grin.

"You right…I am handsome," he said while you slid a hand over your face with his confirmation. Bakugou looked at his gills and webbed ears before extending the mirror out with a straight arm and made expressions into the mirror, analyzing the way his face moved and his eyes glistened.

"Smug bastard. I know you said you don't have a mate, but I bet you at least had someone interested." You looked away to hide the way your lips tugged tightly across your teeth, something heavy and unusually cold building in the pit of your stomach as you thought of Bakugou interested in other merpeople - or others being interested in him. Jealousy wasn't something you felt often, but you knew it well enough to understand entertaining the idea of someone else trying to catch the merman's attention didn't sit well with you. But you weren't together, you weren't a couple, you were just friends - as far you knew from his perspective, anyway. You were from different worlds, so even entertaining the idea of being together in a romantic capacity seemed fruitless…right?

You didn't notice how Bakugou stilled as you made the assumption, lost in your own thoughts of wanting to keep him all to yourself while creating an inner monologue between the weight of your feelings and the realistic opportunity of acting on them.

"I turned them away," he finally said, breaking the silence and bringing your attention back to Bakugou. The mirror lay limply in his hand, his expression unreadable under the fringe of his hair.

His answer caught you by surprise. Bakugou enjoyed attention, so you'd assumed he would want to be admired or sought after by others. "Why?"

Bakugou remained still as his jaw moved as if on autopilot. "Focused on training. Getting strong…no distraction." It was simple and to the point. He'd talked the previous day about his role in their society, and his pride was nothing to scoff at; Bakugou held himself in high regard and wanted to learn quickly and be the best at whatever he set his mind to, that much was apparent. If having a mate diverted him from those goals, it made sense for him to turn them away in order to remain focused.

You mumbled the question before you could stop yourself. "Would you ever want one?"

Silence hung in the air like fog as, for what seemed like a full minute, Bakugou didn't answer. Maybe it was too personal; maybe there was someone back home he was thinking of right now that he wished he could be with and couldn't because he'd fled. His reasoning behind not having a mate was training…not that he wouldn't accept an offer at some point in the future. The assumption clouded behind your eyes like a brewing storm on the horizon.

"Maybe," was all he said, tone low and far away. You remained turned away, missing the small glimmer of crimson peeking through the damp hairs hanging over his brow fixed on you.

The rest of the night was awkward as you tried to avoid intrusive thoughts of Bakugou having someone waiting for him back home…back where he technically belonged. This was the first time he'd mentioned a mate since your disastrous non-date so long ago. It was pointless to entertain ideas of things you had no confirmation for, but you had a tendency for apocalyptic thinking which easily spiraled into unrealistic possibilities.

As you packed away your things in your bag something caught your eye, something you'd forgotten about until now: the red flower you'd picked at lunch. It sat in a side pocket to avoid being crushed by the heavier things in your bag.

You left it untouched as you said your goodbyes for the night, swallowing hard as you waved to that familiar unreadable look following your retreating silhouette into the night.

Waking up the next morning was difficult. You hadn't slept well, tossing and turning under unusually warm blankets while blurred visions danced behind your eyelids. It wasn't healthy to consider the unknowns, your conversation with Bakugou the previous evening still echoing behind your ribs like a pinball machine. Readying yourself for work as usual to keep your mind occupied, you grabbed the camera out of your bag before heading out the door an hour early to make a stop at the closest place with a photo center.

"Excuse me," you said to the back of some tired-looking teenager busy at one of the computers behind the counter. "I'd like to get some pictures developed." He turned around, eyelids heavy as if he hadn't had enough coffee yet, and gave you a bored look.

"OK," was his only response as he held out a hand for the camera. A thought struck you suddenly: you had no idea what Bakugou took pictures of. If he snapped one of himself or something other people shouldn't know about…!

"W-wait! Uh, are these confidential? Like, does anyone look at the pictures first?" Saying the words out loud made them sound…unexpectedly lewd. The teenager continued to look at you with an intensely listless expression, as if this wasn't the first time someone had asked this question.

"No, we don't look at 'em first. They'll be ready in a couple of hours." He snatched the camera from your hand and shoved a clipboard in your direction to fill out your information to pick up the developed pictures later. Your ears burned as you swore you heard him mumble "pervert" under his breath as he walked away.

While sitting on the bus you downloaded the store app to upload the photos from your phone to the same one to pick up both orders simultaneously, selecting all the photos you'd taken over the past couple of days and selecting Same Day Pickup. It was weird printing out pictures of your bedroom and bathroom, but if that's what Bakugou wanted then you'd oblige.

Picking up the photos after work was less awkward than dropping off the camera, luckily, so you headed back home with two sets of photos: one of the land, and one of the sea.

You changed clothes and packed your bag like normal, sliding your family photo into Bakugou's set as a surprise. Stuffing a clean towel in the main pocket as well you locked the door behind you, forgetting about the wilting flower sitting limply behind the black mesh.

Bakugou wasted no time in climbing up onto the pier, eager to see the results of your - and his - camera work. "Show me," he demanded, before reeling back and tacking on a lackluster "please" onto the end before you had a chance to scold him for lack of manners.

"Since you asked so nicely…oh, dry your hands first. They'll get messed up if they get wet." You handed him the towel - he wasn't a huge fan of the texture - and wiped his hands quickly before snatching the package you held out for him while simultaneously tossing the towel over your head. You noticed he was sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder with you, a bit closer than normal; you didn't mind.

"I have no idea what order they're in, I haven't looked at them since…oh, wow." The exclamation left your lips as you looked down at the first of Bakugou's pictures. Your eyes were met with a burst of blue as clear as a freshly-cleaned window, tall stalks of teal kelp reaching up towards the sunlight streaming in from the uneven surface of water above. "What the fuck."

Bakugou snickered before looking over and outright laughing at the look on your face, eye twitching at how good the photo was. "Told you, easy." You elbowed him in the side before sliding to the next picture.

"What's this?" he asked after a minute, holding up the picture of your bedroom.

"That's where I sleep." You pointed at the bed in the middle. "Nothing fancy but it gets the job done."

"Looks…soft." He leaned over, flipping through the pictures in your hand and finding one he'd taken of his own makeshift bedroom. "I sleep on sand."

You looked at the photo with mouth agape; even where he slept was beautiful. "I mean…it's pretty, though. But yeah, no offense, I'd rather stick to my bed over sand. It looks enclosed…how do you get in and out?" The walls were solid, and you didn't see an entrance. He explained about the tunnel system that was hidden, and the skylight at the top that was too small to swim through but big enough to let in daylight from the surface.

"Woah, well that sounds cool…like a very specific type of themed hotel or something." Bakugou asked what a hotel was, and you pointed over to the tall buildings on the other side of the beach. "Honestly? People would pay money to stay where you sleep. Well, it couldn't be underwater…but still, some people would probably be excited to sleep on sand."

"With no bed?"

"Yeah, with no bed." He didn't say it out loud, but the comforts of home was admittedly something he did miss every once in a while.

Bakugou continued to flip through pictures, asking short questions and mulling over your answers, until he finally came to the ones with your cat. "Small…lion?" he asked, unsure of what else to relate it to.

The corners of your lips curled up. "He's my pet at home. I take care of him. He…reminds me a lot of you, actually. Picky eater."

"Am not."

"Demanding of my attention-"

He was about to argue but couldn't because he secretly knew it was true so just growled in response.

"Cute-" Your mouth hung open then shut abruptly, clearing your throat and occupying your hands with the next photo while avoiding Bakugou's smirk as he pushed his shoulder into yours. "Shut up…"

You were honestly amazed at how good Bakugou's pictures turned out; very few were blurry or unclear, and all of them were colorful and interesting like a packet of underwater postcards. The next one was of a pod of dolphins swimming towards water's glowing surface. "Do you see dolphins and whales often?"

Bakugou shrugged with a huff. "Yeah…they annoying. Play pranks.'

Your eyes cut to him at the irony. "Uh, you play pranks so don't even start. Also, you find everyone annoying." Maybe it was how you spoke of others, but he almost always agreed with you when agitating people came up in conversation.

"Not you," he said nonchalantly, casually, dismissively, indisputable. You were silent but couldn't help but smile.

Flipping to the next photo Bakugou stared at the gaudy shower curtain, asking what that room was for. "I uh…humans have to shower everyday. Wash ourselves with water, like how we have to wash our clothes when they're dirty."

He seemed confused at the idea of washing. "Like swimming?"

It took a minute to figure out some kind of analogy that he might understand. "Hm…more like, it rains inside, I guess. Or we'll fill up the tub there with water and just wash dirt and sweat away."

"Should have taken picture of washing." You coughed, cheeks flaring up at Bakugou suggesting pictures of you in the shower; it seemed he still didn't quite get it.

"N-no, nope. Will not take a picture of that."

"Why?"

You rubbed your eyes, feeling the tinge of a headache borne from embarrassment coming on. "People take baths without clothes on, so no, you don't get pictures of that."

He almost dropped his pictures over the pier and into the water at your statement. You'd explained the concept of modesty very vaguely a week or so ago, so Bakugou finally understood why people wore clothes and did not ask about it again. His current conclusion was that people wore clothes outside, and no clothes inside their homes for privacy - a flawless deduction based on current information.

With your eyes focused intently on the pictures in your hand as a pointed distraction from the current topic of conversation you missed the way Bakugou stealthily raked you from head to toe, letting his mind wander only briefly with what little knowledge of human anatomy he had, before darting away quickly to avoid appearing flustered.

Eventually he came to the photo you took of the park near your office, entranced by the scenery devoid of blue and instead overpowered with greens and browns and yellows and reds and whatever additional colors the flowers provided. You caught him staring, looking up from one of your own pictures.

"That place is nice, it's quiet and smells like fresh flowers and grass." Bakugou ran a thumb over the corner of the photo as if to feel the color of fresh sunshine.

"What flowers smell like?" It hadn't occurred to you that until he posed the question that his sense of smell was almost always taken up with the scent of fish and sea salt, along with the newest edition of whatever food you brought him with unfamiliar seasonings and ingredients.

A pang of guilt hit you thinking to the flower now wilted in your backpack. "They're hard to describe, but they smell fresh and clean, at least to me. Totally different from the ocean. Some flowers are sweet, others are more pungent, and some don't really have a smell at all. But overall they smell nice. I'll bring one for you next time so you can see for yourself."

"Don't forget," he said, taking one last glance at the photo before shuffling it to the back of the stack.

He answered your inquiries about his own photos, proudly pointing out shots that he considered difficult to capture; admittedly the photos were good, so this whole camera idea and exchange of environment-based memories seemed like an idea that paid off with new ones to share. Finally, a picture older than the rest came to light at the top of the pile of photos in Bakugou's hands. It was the picture of you and your parents.

"Are these…?" You nodded, confirming what you assumed he was about to ask.

"Yeah, my mom and dad. The picture is a couple years old, but I feel I haven't changed too much. Dunno why I grabbed it…it's one of the few physical pictures I have at home." Bakugou held the picture between his webbed fingers before lifting his arm and holding up the picture next to your head, eyes flitting between the crinkled photo paper and your face.

"They look like you."

"Well I'd assume so. If I didn't look like them I might be a bit concerned," you said, wondering what might be going through his mind as his ruby eyes scanned the face in the photos. "Uh, I don't think I ever asked…what are your parents like?" The question was out before you felt a pang of regret at possibly digging into a freshly-closed wound. He hadn't visited home since he left, so that meant he also hadn't seen his family in what you assumed to be months at this point. The last thing you wanted to do was make Bakugou upset or nostalgic, not now when the two of you were comfortable with conversation and mostly-innocent questions. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

He merely shrugged, however, seemingly unaffected by your probing. "They…alright. I don't miss that much." You pulled a lot of information from his short answer. Maybe he didn't have the best relationship with his parents, tension budding between family members mirroring human dynamics.

Something urged you to air out a piece of advice someone told you years ago. Your free hand moved up his neck to wind your fingers in Bakugou's hair, fingertips grazing his skin lightly in a way you knew he found comforting. He hadn't asked for the touch, but didn't move away. "Ya know…sometimes the people we call family aren't related to us at all. I think it's just the people who care about us the most, and they can be anyone. The people who don't judge you, and just accept you for who you are, flaws and all."

Bakugou sat still, processing your words, red eyes shimmering between you and the photo still gripped between his fingers. A small bit of the tension eased out of his neck and shoulders.

"I think my mom would like you, if she ever met you." You continued an attempt to erase the faraway look in his eyes and bring back a glimmer of something more mirthful. "Hypothetically, I mean. They don't live here. But…I dunno, I feel like she wouldn't mind knowing I was friends with a merman. She'd find you interesting, for sure." Bakugou looked once more between the photo in his hand and your face before holding it out for you to take, assuming it wasn't his to keep. Your hand dropped from his hair back to your lap.

"Tch, obvious. I'm likable," he finally admitted with that familiar smirk of his. You took the photo back, fingers brushing lightly against his as you slid it to the back of the stack in your lap. He'd come to the end of his photos, but you still had a couple left to look at.

Flipping to the next one you were met with your own face staring back at you. "When…dammit that's right you-"

"Mine," Bakugou snapped, suddenly snatching the picture away and hiding it somewhere in the middle of his pictures. He seemed to be back to his normal attitude, at least.

"What?! Give it!" Once again he used his slightly longer arms to keep something from you, shoving his free hand in your face as you leaned into his space to grab back the smiling photo he'd snapped of you two days earlier. Pictures of yourself were embarrassing, and you'd rather not give him reason to poke fun at your cheesy grin.

Bakugou was determined to hold onto what he considered his property. "Hell no!" He easily pushed you away as he shoved his free hand in your face, but this time you caught him off guard by sticking your tongue out and licking his hand from the dip of his palm to the tip of his middle finger. The distraction worked for a moment as his face contorted into some wretched visage of surprised embarrassment, but he managed to regain his composure and swipe your own saliva back onto your face before you lunged forward in a final attempt to grab back the photo.

"Why do you want to keep it?!" you asked. At this point his tail failed him as you managed to catch Bakugou off balance and push him over onto the pier as he struggled to hold onto the slippery stack of pictures in his hand while the other grabbed your outstretched wrist. Your fingers wiggled fruitlessly in front of his face, the whole ordeal proving gainless since you were no closer now - your body halfway on top of his - than you were a minute ago to your goal. Before you could reel back with the realization of your new position Bakugou gave a delicious curl of the mouth and stuck his own tongue out, ready to retaliate in full.

"You wouldn't," you mumbled, meeting his gaze head on. His tongue threatened to touch your hand and your fingers wiggled in an attempt to flick it away. Your face was practically buried in his chest. Had you thought about a similar scenario before?…Maybe. Was this the circumstance you'd wanted surrounding your positions? Not remotely.

"Why you want it? I took it, it mine." He was stubborn, but you could mirror his attitude right back at him.

You glared, but bit back a retort as you felt his tail move against your thigh causing you to still your movements because you let out an awkward cough. "Ya know what? Keep it, just give me my hand back." Wiggling your fingers again, your wrist still held firmly in Bakugou's cool grip, Bakugou seemed to debate actually letting you go. "C'mon, please?" One hand now belonged to Bakugou, but the other…You set your stack of pictures down and quietly snaked your now-free hand up and into his armpit once more, catching him off guard.

With the grip on your wrist he couldn't as easily protect himself as you tickled him mercilessly and without hesitation. Bakugou glowered at you as he tried to wiggle away, but now had your fingers in his face and a second set threatening to open his mouth that he was struggling to shut tightly.

Unable to hold back any longer he let out a laugh absent of ferocity and filled with joy. The sound echoed around in your chest like a song you never wanted to forget. Letting go of your wrist he clapped his hand over his mouth, freeing you from his grip.

The effect was immediate, catching him off-guard enough for you to finally seize back your hand. "Triumph, finally! Sweet, sweet revenge." You sat up on your knees while pointing a finger in his face but snatched it away before he could grab hold of it again as he came down from the high of laughter. From this angle you realized, once again, your compromising position: Bakugou lay between your legs, rubies glimmering up at you like reflective jewels through pale blonde bangs, lips pink from where he bit them trying not to laugh, his breathing evening out with the rise and fall of his chest. Tail of orange and gold shifted again under you. His eyebrow twitched. It was too dark for either of you to see a tinge of warmth budding up on all present cheekbones. He'd made no move to push you off.

"Uh, y-yeah," you managed to mumble, untangling yourself from him to sit back properly on the pier while clearing your excessively dry throat. As he sat up you chanced a look at Bakugou. He let out a heavy breath while giving you the same familiar stare that could sink you easily and unforgivingly into a bed of crimson flower petals and warmth.

"We're even." His voice of dark velvet broke the silence.

"Even…?" Rolling his eyes he reached over and grabbed the papers in your hands, flitting through quickly and handing them back with a new, unseen photo situated at the top. He smiled slyly as you took the stack and looked down.

He'd taken a fucking selfie, and looked damn proud of it, too.

"What the hell," was all you could muster as you stared at the picture.

He'd somehow managed to angle the camera in an unfairly flattering way: one hand holding the camera, the other combing through his hair and literal bedroom eyes, the corner of his lips turning up just enough to reveal the white of his teeth; it was a magazine cover if you ever saw one. Your bottom lip disappeared between your teeth and your ears burned like hot coals.

"You…sure did run away with this one, huh. It should read 'I'm a handsome shit and I fuckin' know it' at the top. So fine: I keep this one and you keep that one, is that the deal?" Without looking up you slid the photo somewhere in the middle of the stack to avoid two sets of red eyes staring at you. "I'm going to make the _bold assumption_ that you liked taking pictures, then?"

Bakugou slid the glossy sheets of paper back into the envelope as if to keep them safe from harm and away from prying eyes as his gaze met yours. He nodded. "Deal. And yeah, wasn't boring."

You rolled your eyes knowing he was intentionally downplaying how much fun he had messing around with the camera. "What are you gonna do with them, anyway? They'll get messed up if they're water." Waving the envelope towards you he just turned his nose up like he had all the answers.

"My secret," he said before folding his arms over his chest. Once the moment passed his face settled on you once more in an attempt to see right through to every agenda and insecurity you'd tucked away neatly, pulling thread after thread in an attempt to unravel you to your most vulnerable. "Why you want your picture so bad?"

Groaning your eyes shifted over the dark water glistening with overhead moonlight. It was getting late. "Why you wanna know?"

"You got mad I want it. Why?" You knew from his stare this was yet another thing he wouldn't easily let go. With a sigh you scratched the back of your head as your chest tightened into a tangled knot.

"I'll just say…I don't like having my picture taken too often. It's not a big deal I guess, dunno why you wanted to keep it anyways…" You mumbled the last part, thinking he couldn't hear you; but he did, and answered bluntly.

"I take good pictures," he said before continuing. "You looked nice." Craning your eyes to look at him, Bakugou stared at you as if what he'd just said was as simple and true as declaring the moon hung in the sky. "You have good smile." He wasn't shy about the declaration that rolled off his tongue easily and without regret.

Your hand unconsciously gripped the slippery photos in your hand while the other searched beside you for the other paper envelope in a desperate attempt to fill the hanging silence with the sound of movement. Finally shoving the photos into the packet you folded it shut. Accepting compliments was hard, harder than you'd like to admit sometimes. Maybe, this one time, you'd swallow the voice in the back of your head that wanted to dismiss him.

"Thanks, Bakugou," you said, and smiled something as close as you could muster to the one in his photo, maybe even a bit wider and more sincere. For now, you wouldn't worry so much about whether or not he might have someone back home waiting for him; Bakugou was with you, sinking soundly into the cushion of your company, and you in his. You had his attention, held his gaze, and for now that was enough.

He memorized this one - like he did with all the other fleeting moments - and stored it away in the hollow of somewhere slowly filling up everyday, little by little, with something comforting; the picture was nice, but he was the cause of the smile staring back at him in the darkness of the seashore.

Bakugou couldn't help but smile back.


	14. Chapter 14

**NOTE!** This chapter takes place BEFORE the events of Chapters 11 and 12. This is non plot-essential fluff that I decided to write when I got…ideas…that needed to be expressed before the story's conclusion. Hopefully everyone enjoys this little snippet of everyday interaction!

* * *

The afternoon energy wound down as you walked on the familiar sidewalk towards the pier. It was about a mile between your apartment and the beach, but you didn't mind the exercise with a sedentary desk job. Cars rolled past as storefronts prepared to close their shops for the day, packing away anything left outside to avoid the pull of stray animals to fresh food. Several of the business owners nodded at you, acquainted with your routine at this point.

With your backpack slung over your shoulder you passed by a long alleyway, trash bins and dumpsters lining the sides of the brick buildings. A sudden yelp startled you as a door swung open, a man shaking his fist angrily at something unseen to you before he slammed the door shut. The rustle of plastic and cardboard caught your eye as you stopped to look down into the darkness.

"Hmm…" A small shape moved towards you in the dimming light, emerging from behind one of the dumpsters. You narrowed your eyes in an attempt to get a better look, but it wasn't until the shape moved just a bit closer that the silhouette became more recognizable.

A scruffy looking dog padded towards you, its fur matted with dirt and lack of human care. You could tell it wasn't a puppy, but if this was its adult size it still wasn't very big. Black eyes glistened up at you, highlighted by the orange sun far behind and above you.

Your reaction was immediate. "Oh my god a dog! Oh c'mere…it's OK." Your excitement grew quiet as you knelt down and held out an open hand towards the dog in an attempt to lure it to you. The idea that it was bad to lure in a stray dog didn't even cross your mind, instead focusing your attention on seeing if it was hurt or needed help…or just wanted to be your new best friend. "Oh no, dogs are so cute I love dogs! No offense to my cat…I hope it's friendly…"

The dog slowly closed the gap, edging its nose out closer and closer to your outstretched hand. You now saw it didn't have a collar and looked skinnier than it should, no doubt a dog familiar with the streets and back alleys of the city. Your immediate reaction was to give it all the food in your backpack, but you knew some of it would make it sick since dogs weren't indestructible eaters.

"C'mon…" All it took was one lick on your fingers.

Fifteen minutes later

The rhythmic pad of clawed feet echoed behind you as you walked down the sidewalk with your new companion. "My cat will not be happy if I bring you home but he can deal with it. Oh…wait." You stopped, and the dog stopped too.

"Woof!"

"I know!" you said as if to answer the dog's bark. "OK, you gotta be good, alright? You're about to make a new friend but you can't eat him. He can be grumpy sometimes, but give him some time and look at him with those big doggy eyes and he'll love you…hopefully." The dog hopped around as if she understood you right back, excited to meet another nice person.

The dog was hesitant to walk out onto the pier - no doubt the waves could be a bit intimidating at first - but you showed her it was safe and fine, and eventually a second set of feet followed you all the way down to the end of the wooden walkway.

Setting your bag down the dog sniffed it, no doubt smelling the food sitting inside the main pocket. "Nope, can't eat this. I'll find something for you when I get home." Her tail wagged excitedly and you couldn't help but melt at how cute she was, despite her rough appearance; if you did end up taking her home, she'd definitely need a bath.

You were so distracted with the dog that you hadn't noticed Bakugou peering over the edge of the pier having heard you talking to someone. The dog noticed him before you did, barking before issuing a low growl which Bakugou matched easily.

"Huh? Oh! No, no growling." You booped the dog on the nose, causing her to sneeze. "Hey, Bakugou. Uh…I have a friend? I found her on the way here and well she started following me and I can't leave her alone…" Bakugou's eyes narrowed skeptically between you and the dog who was now sniffing vigorously all over the pier, taking in all the new smells, before licking one of the wooden posts.

"What is it?" he asked, still making no move to hoist himself up to his normal sitting spot, eyeing the unfamiliar creature covered in fur. At the new voice the dog turned and started to sniff in his direction before you grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her gently back.

"It's a dog. Sort of like…oh! My pet cat is like a small lion, right? Dog are like tiny wolves, like in the book I showed you. A lot of people keep them as pets, but it seems either this one grew up on the streets or someone abandoned her…she doesn't seem mean, so she probably had a family at some point." Bakugou listened as you explained, slowly hoisting himself up and watching the dog carefully as it wagged a dirty tail in excitement at having someone around who wasn't yelling at him.

"It smells," he said, turning his sensitive nose up as the dog pulled on your arm to niff closer to the man with a fish tail.

Without a collar she was hard to hang onto, but you managed to keep a grip on the dog before he bowled Bakugou over in what you could only imagine would turn into an incident. "Like I said, she doesn't have a home, she's been living on the streets." At a mention of a lack of home, Bakugou silently admitted a bit of sympathy for the creature as he watched it turn around and lick your arm and hand vigorously. "You just wanna be loved by someone, huh?" you cooed, rolling the dog over and scratching her belly until her leg did the infamous thumper, tongue lolling out of her mouth with pure bliss. The distraction kept you from seeing the faraway look he gave you at your words.

Bakugou awkwardly watched this display before realizing that all your attention - which was normally on him - was now on this…dog! He wasn't the sharing type, so he'd try and worm his way back into your eyes without being too obvious about it. A webbed hand cautiously reached forward to touch the soft belly of the dog, intrigued at the texture that was different from his own head of hair. She wagged her tail with gusto at two sets of hands giving her attention.

"What's the purpose?' he asked, index finger scratching a spot he noticed the dog enjoyed particularly well.

"Purpose of what?"

"Of pets. We not keep pets." You'd thought about this before when he'd asked about the pictures of your cat, but now he'd brought the topic up on his own, answering your question. Merpeople did not keep fish as pets.

You mulled it over for a moment before answering, thinking how - despite his neediness - your cat gave you a lot of joy and entertainment. "Well, I guess most people keep pets because they're fun? They're always happy to see you, and for some people they turn into best friends. I mean, look at her!" Pausing with the belly rubs the dog immediately bolted up into your lap to start licking your face with affection as you laughed.

Bakugou looked on at how easily you accepted such blatant affection from this stinky creature that showed up out of nowhere. Would he openly admit the dog was kind of cute? Not out loud. Would he also admit he was slightly jealous of the dog? Again, not out loud.

Pulling away from the dog you noticed Bakugou's intense stare, as if he was thinking very hard about something. "If you're hungry I have food in my bag, you can grab it."

With a disgruntled huff he reached behind you and grabbed the bag you carried with you everyday, unzipping it like he'd seen you do countless times at this point. He pulled out one box - the same one you packed his food in everyday - and then another - yours. There was no third box. If you were expecting him to share with this mutt you were dead wrong.

"Ok…sit! No, dammit…sit." You pushed her butt down, only for it to pop right back up. "You are being stubborn…" After a minute the dog finally laid down, tongue hanging out, looking up at you with eyes that silently said take me home.

You turned back to Bakugou who was already eating his food with an agitated look on his face. "What's wrong, is the food not good? I didn't make anything different.." you wondered, grabbing your own box and opening up the lid. As soon as the smell of food hit the air, the dog barked and tried to jump into your lap, obviously hungry. "No, no! Fuck, this was maybe a bad idea…"

Bakugou looked over to see you struggling with the dog and honestly he just smirked; that's what you got for bringing a third party into the mix, especially one the smelled like trash and couldn't behave properly.

With a groan you finally got her to calm down enough to eat your own food, though it was a bit of a struggle. "Still want the dog?" he asked almost mockingly. You cut your eyes over to him, but his expression didn't waver.

"Just needs some training…no offense, but you weren't too different when we first met." At that he looked almost flabbergasted to be compared to that creature! He was nothing like that thing!

"I am not!" he barked out at you.

"Bakugou you stole my food the first time we met. Also you spat water in my face. Also, needy as hell, but that part didn't change much." You stuffed the last piece of food into your mouth and put the container in your bag, only to look up and see Bakugou actually looked mad. "Sorry! If it's any consolation you've gotten a lot better with manners. I said you used to act similarly, not that you still do. We've been meeting for what, over two months now?" With arms crossed over his chest he still glared at you, not answering your question. "In that time you've practically learned my language, and can hold a conversation. You're a person, and you're special, so don't forget that."

You watched as his face gradually shift from mad to mildly agitated to a look you could only describe as soft contemplation as you finished talking. If you were honest you could keep going with naming all his good qualities - the things you saw in him, the traits that kept you coming back here everyday - but unfortunately the moment was broken when the dog let out a bark at being ignored and leapt into your lap, basically pushing you over onto your back.

"Hey, chill out!" you got out while being smothered in doggy kisses. Suddenly the weight of your furry companion disappeared from your chest. Looking up you saw Bakugou had grabbed the dog, holding it straight armed out in front of him like a ticking time bomb. Sitting up and wiping off your face with the towel in your bag you couldn't help but let out a laugh at the sight in front of you.

"She won't bite…well, I hope not anyway." You sat with legs dangling over the side of the pier, watching as Bakugou analyzed the dog suspiciously.

Red eyes looked into dark brown ones. OK, yeah, he could admit - silently - that the dog was kind of appealing with the way she looked stupidly happy, tail wagging, basically begging for the spotlight. Another small wave of sympathy hit him if what you'd said was true. Maybe she was just lonely and unwanted, feeding off the attention. The dog tried to lick his hand, moving around awkwardly in his grip.

"Aww she likes you!" you exclaimed, laughing at Bakugou's face as he tried to keep the dog from slobbering all over him. "Fine, fine, put her down…" At your words he gladly did so, setting dog back down onto the pier. Once her feet touched the wood, though, she started sniffing at him vigorously, causing him to quirm which honestly made you laugh harder.

"Get it away!" Every time he pushed the dog, she just went around to his other side to sniff at his tail. Eventually with enough growling from Bakugou she decided you were a friendlier target, coming towards you for more belly rubs. He was honestly annoyed, not only that you were giving attention to this dog, but that she wanted attention from him, too!

Still…your words from earlier stuck with him, even if you did compare his behavior when the two of you first met to just slightly above alleyway pet. Despite being different from you, you called him a "person" and sometimes, when you looked at him with those eyes that glistened under the reflection of moonlight in the water, he swore that the fact the two of you were from completely different words and experiences didn't matter at all. You gave each other company and companionship, erasing the nagging loneliness he'd felt after leaving his home. It was just one reason he kept visiting you everyday, and wondered if your reasons for coming here might overlap.

"Sorry Bakugou, this seemed like a good idea at the time," you said, trying to calm the dog down. You hoped this could be kind of fun, showing Bakugou another aspect of human culture that he otherwise wouldn't get to experience. Unfortunately he seemed mostly annoyed with the dog. What were you supposed to do, though? You couldn't leave the poor thing on the street, not after she looked so hungry and dirty.

"Can you train it?" The question caught you off guard as you attempted to keep the dog from diving off the edge of the pier into the cool water below.

"Um, yeah, you can train most dogs to do things like sit, stay, don't-" you pushed her face away from yours as she attempted to lick your hand into submission. "…Don't jump on people." You really didn't have time to train a dog, though. With how busy you were at work and coming here every night to spend time with Bakugou, how were you supposed to find time to train and take care of a dog? Your penchant for empathy got you in a bind this time.

He looked between you and dog, some inner monologue going on behind his eyes before he tapped a webbed finger on the wood of the pier, the sound echoing below the hollow space between the wood and water. Immediately the dog started bounding towards him, but Bakugou growled in a way you hadn't heard before and held up a hand to her snout. "Sit," he demanded in a stern voice; she, surprisingly, sat.

"What the fuck…" you mumbled, watching as the dog obeyed Bakugou like he was her owner. "What did you do? She didn't listen to me when I told her to sit."

Bakugou just smirked with pride. "She see me as master, now." Just to prove his point he made another low growl, the dog's ears perking up in attention. "Understands my voice." With a stern look he pointed straight down and, sure enough, the dog laid flat on the pier, head down. He crossed his arms in satisfaction.

You looked on in amazement at the scene before you on the pier. "So, she understands your growls, then? I never even thought of the possibility you could sorta understand each other…"

By the end of the night Bakugou managed to get the dog to roll over, and the way your eyes sparked at such a simple thing made the effort worth it. Eventually it was time for you to head home, almost losing track of time because of the new addition to the normally one-on-one meetings.

Yawning, you looked between Bakugou and the dog, the former seeming to enjoy himself more compared to hours earlier now that he had some actual control over the situation. The dog, on the other hand, was also starting to fall asleep. "I think it's time for me to go home. It's pretty late now." Bakugou looked up at you with an expression you interpreted as pensive. "Sorry, the dog kind of took over today. I didn't mean for-"

"It fine," he interrupted, one finger gently scratching behind a furry ear. "Will you keep it?"

"Keep the dog? I mean what else would I do, put her back on the street? I can't do that. My cat will…not be happy though," you groaned at the idea of getting the dog home only to deal with everything that came after. Bakugou nodded in understanding; it made sense that he could empathize at least a little with her situation considering his own circumstance.

"Alright, c'mon then," you said, getting up from the pier and stretching up towards the dark sky. The dog, now worn out from having a sudden influx of interaction, stood up and walked towards you. "I'll be back tomorrow, Bakugou…would you want me to bring the dog, or no?"

The merman looked between you and the third wheel covered in dirty fur. At first when you brought the dog along he was annoyed having something else here to share your attention…but then he realized his ability to roughly make the dog obey him impressed and entertained you, so in the end it wasn't a total loss. "Wash it, first," he answered while turning up his nose and waving a webbed hand in front of his face as if to wave away an exaggerated stench.

The scene made you laugh, but you could agree that she desperately needed a bath. "Alright, I'll give her a bath before I bring her back. Goodnight, Bakugou." You gave him a warm smile and watched as he nodded in acknowledgement before you turned to walk back down the pier, the dog following sleepily behind you.

By the time you made it home you were pretty tired but knew that the dog at your feet - you'd have to come up with a name soon if you really were going to keep her - needed to eat and get a quick bath before you went to sleep.

"Alright, please be nice and don't destroy anything…maybe Bakugou's manners will stick for at least a day?" Luckily the dog seemed just as worn out as you felt, so maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad. Opening your front door the dog followed you inside and immediately started sniffing around your shoes and the furniture in your apartment. You walked into the kitchen and started fixing some type of improvised meal for the dog of leftover rice and meat. As soon as you set the bowl down onto the floor she sniffed it out and and sucked it down like a starving vacuum. "Damn, you really were hungry…alright, I hope you're OK with water because you've gotta get a bath."

You walked into your bathroom to get the water running in the tub and found your cat lounging in the sink. "You…you've gotta be nice, alright?" The cat gave no reaction other than to flick his tail at you. "Perfect…"

As water filled the tub you went back into the kitchen and grabbed up the dog. "I'll definitely have to wash these clothes tomorrow, Bakugou was right…you are a bit smelly." Walking back into the bathroom your cat's reaction was immediate: he hissed and jumped out from the sink, scurrying out of the bathroom to some other nestled spot in your apartment. "Well that's one solution…alright, in you go!"

Luckily she seemed to enjoy the water, splashing around and shaking out her fur not unlike Bakugou when he shook his hair free of seawater, spraying you as a result. It took several washes and rinses before the water ran clear, but you were impressed with how clean she was now, no longer the dirty dog from the alley. "You smell and look much better now."

"Woof!"

"That's right!" you answered, emptying the tub and running an old towel over her fur. "I feel like you need a name, but I'm not sure what…I'll think on it tomorrow." With everything that happened today you were dead tired and wanted nothing more than to flop right into bed. Walking out of the bathroom the dog followed you, seemingly happy that she was clean and fed. "Now where is that cat…?" Looking around the apartment you spotted your actual pet crouched suspiciously on his cat tree, watching the dog like a hawk. "Just stay there and the dog can sleep in my room tonight while I figure out what the hell to do…spontaneously adopting a dog wasn't exactly in my agenda, today…"

You walked into your bedroom and, as soon as the dog was clear of the doorway, you shut the door and got ready for bed. Of course she now sniffed all over your room, pawing at your tossed clothes on the floor. "I forgot how nosey dogs are. Now, hopefully you're tired because I am. Also, please don't poop or pee on the floor. What did I get myself into…" Turning off your lights and double checking your work alarm for in the morning you crawled into bed, enjoying the cool feel of well-used covers on your skin as you sank into your pillow. Eyelids heavy and breath even you started to doze off when you felt a sudden weight at the end of your bed. Groaning you looked up towards the other side of your dark room to see the dog circling around the foot of your bed about five times before settling down near your feet.

"You done?" you asked groggily, as if the dog could answer. She didn't, her breaths even against the comforter. Settling back down into your pillow it only took a few minutes for you to fall asleep.

Sometimes you dreamed, but most nights were uneventful as time passed quickly between dozing off and waking up to the annoying buzz of your phone alarm. Your hand sloppily shot out from under the covers to grope for your phone, but something else woke you up far quicker: the unmistakable feeling of dog slobber on your cheek as a wet tongue slid across your face. "N-no god, stop, too early!"

Your hands pushed the dog away and you sat up trying to wipe your face clean of drool. Looking off to the side with bleary eyes still half asleep, the dog you basically adopted yesterday sat wide awake and happy, staring at you with those big wet eyes. You let out a heavy sigh. "I can already tell today will be a long day. At least you make a good alarm."

Getting ready for work was a challenge. Your cat still avoided the dog like the plague, which honestly made your life easier. Hopefully if you left them alone all day they wouldn't kill each other…or wreck your apartment. You gave the dog some more food before taking her out to use the bathroom. Surprisingly she didn't seem to need a leash, though you'd need to get one today along with actual dog food, anyway - better safe than sorry.

"Now, please behave. I'll come back at lunch to check on you, alright?" The dog barked happily before immediately trying to follow you out the door to work. "No, stay here. Stay." She gave you those sad doggy eyes and dammit, she was lucky she was so cute. "Stay." After several minutes you finally got her to sit as you scurried out the door to the bus station.

Your mind was half focused on work, half focused on wondering how intact your apartment would be once you took your lunch break. As soon as the first half of the day was over, you hopped back on the bus towards your apartment knowing this would take up most of your lunch hour, so you'd have to grab something quick on the way back.

Whatever you were expecting when you walked in the door certainly wasn't what you witnessed. The dog sat on the couch, totally content and peaceful, as your cat made biscuits into her fluffy butt. "Oh my god…" Immediately you took out your phone and managed to snap a video of the scene before your cat resumed (pretending) to dislike the dog. You made a quick sweep of the place and everything was surprisingly unbroken. "Well, I think this proves you aren't just a street dog and at some point had an owner, which makes things easier. C'mon, let's go out real quick before I get back to work."

The rest of the work day went by with less stress than the first half with the knowledge your home wouldn't end up in a total mess when you returned. You stopped by a petstore on the way home and picked up the essentials: a leash, a collar, a small bag of dog food, a brush, doggy shampoo, etc. along with a couple of things your cat needed as well. Passing by the machine near the exit that printed name tags, you once again considered what to name the dog if you really were planning on keeping her. "Hmm…maybe Bakugou will have some name ideas, something more creative than what I can come up with."

As you walked through the threshold of your apartment, it was suspiciously quiet. No dog or cat to be seen. You hummed to yourself while looking around. "Come out, come out, where-" When you spoke up, however, a blur of fur came bounding from your bedroom into the living room and skidded to a half at your feet. "Well, you obviously react to my voice so that's good at least. It doesn't look like you made a mess…so good girl!" Bending down you scratched her behind the ears, prompting her to roll on her back for mandatory tummy rubs. You obliged.

After feeding her and attaching the collar, you grabbed up your normal things and, with leash in hand, headed out the door. "Be good, alright? We're going to see Bakugou again. Maybe he told you to behave last night; if so you are damn good at following directions."

Once you arrived at the pier it didn't take long for the familiar touch of wet skin to glide across your foot, asking if it was safe to come up. The echo of rapping knuckles on the wood of the pier gave him his answer, prompting him to jump up to his normal spot at your side. Immediately crimson eyes eyed the dog who obediently sat next to him as if waiting for orders. Raising his nose in the air Bakugou sniffed while looking between you and the dog before nodding in approval. "Doesn't smell bad. Smell…like you," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"For one, she slept in my apartment and on my bed so yeah, she probably smells a bit like me. Two, I used my soap to wash her. As you can see she looks cleaner in addition to smelling nicer." Bakugou analyzed the dog once more and, now that you'd pointed it out, she did look less dirty and was overall more pleasant to look at. "Did you tell her to behave last night? She did a lot better than I thought she would when I got her home."

Bakugou's eyes cut away from you before slowly returning with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe," he said with a smirk.

You laughed at how you'd assumed correctly, and at the fact he didn't tell you. "Well, I appreciate it. She also got along surprisingly well with my cat…" Looking over at him, however, he shook his head while rifling through your bag for his food.

"That not me, dog must like cats," he replied, pulling out a strange bag that he'd never seen before. "What's this?"

Immediately the dog perked up at the bag, but one glare from Bakugou had her behaving once more. "Oh those are treats for her. They're made special for dogs." Opening up the bag he turned up his nose at the smell. "Yeah, they don't smell good but dogs love 'em." Experimentally he reached in and grabbed a treat, watching the dog's reaction he slowly lowered his hand and, without much warning, the dog snapped forward and took the treat, swallowing it without even bothering to chew. The look on Bakugou's face was more than amusing.

"I gave her plenty of food, but I bet she's still excited to see food she doesn't have to dig around back alleys for." Bakugou dug into the bag for another treat, but this time let out a low growl and the dog obeyed whatever he demanded, doing a barrel roll on the pier before sitting up expectantly. He looked at you waiting for approval, and at your nod he tossed another treat to the dog who let out a happy bark.

"Don't give her a lot, they're basically like candy so too many can be bad for them," you explained before taking out his and your own food from your bag. Rather than jump all over you like last time, the dog sat patiently and only issued the occasional whine when she wanted a bit of attention; those damn eyes of hers were something to be wary of with how adorable and innocent they made her look.

Bakugo silently took note of how you reacted to the dog, catering to her now that she was more well-behaved compared to the previous day. A thought hit him to try an experiment…he just needed to find the right moment to test his theory.

"Question for you," you said, dangling a treat above the dog as her tail wagged vigorously in anticipation.

"What?" Bakugou asked, subtly scooting closer to you while you were distracted.

"I was wondering if you wanted to name her? I'm no good with coming up with names, maybe you have something more interesting than…'dog' hmm?" You finally gave in and let her have the treat, the simple whines and cuteness factor too powerful to deny. Looking up you now noticed Bakugou was much closer than you remember him being to you a minute ago; you didn't mind, of course.

He tilted his head and quirked his brow at your question. "A name?" he inquired, red eyes darting between you and the dog.

"Sure. She obeys you…plus I'm curious what you'd come up with," you admitted, looking up at him with the disappearing sunset silhouetting him in the background as if to remind you how effortlessly handsome he looked. Bakugou smirked as if he read your mind and you had to look away, focusing instead on the dog now licking your hand.

Suddenly Bakugou leaned over and picked up the dog under the front legs, holding her up next to his face, and all you could do was stare as they looked…adorably similar. While she had her tongue lolling out of her mouth, Bakugou stuck his own tongue out playfully as if to mirror her actions. This was definitely a sight to commit to memory.

"Treat?" he said, wiggling the dog's paws in the air as she barked; how he switched effortlessly between handsome and cute so quickly was almost jarring.

"I knew you were devious…but this is a whole new level." You didn't want to give the dog too many more treats - she was already incredibly spoiled after just one day - but you sighed and dug into the bag for one more, holding it out to her as she licked your fingers hungrily.

"Where mine?" Bakugou asked slyly while wiggling his tongue. You weren't sure if he had any idea how he looked, but you nearly coughed at the image.

"You already ate, so what else do you want? A tummy rub?" You were sarcastic of course, but Bakugou actually seemed to mull it over for a moment before scoffing at the idea. "Yeah, that's what I thought." He had another plan, however. Sitting the dog down Bakugou laid down in your lap, head resting on one of your thighs. He gazed up at you expectantly, a smirk still playing on his lips. Shaking your head you figured out what he wanted, bringing your hand up to scratch his scalp and twirl your fingers in his hair white blonde hair.

Now having no attention, the dog let out a small whine. Bakugou opened one crimson eye - previously closed to fully enjoy your attention - to look at the dog before letting out a sigh and making a small gesture. Immediately she hopped up onto his stomach and laid down like that was where she was supposed to be.

"This is the cutest shit, not gonna lie," you laughed, looking down at the merman in your lap and the dog in his own lap. "Have you thought of a name, yet?"

Bakugou's brows furrowed as if he was thinking, mulling over various unaired names in his head until he found one he liked. Snapping open, his eyes focused on you looking down at him, irisis full of answers to questions you'd never asked.

"Pearl," he said. "Like your gift."

At that your hand stopped stopped moving. Such a simple title held so much meaning for you - and you assumed for him as well. Taking a moment to think it over the dog laying across Bakugou was a bit like a pearl in some ways: her shell wasn't that pretty to look at initially, but once she was cleaned up you couldn't help but become attached after so little time like a gem in the rough. The nuance was far from lost on you as you smiled down at Bakugou. You felt him shift slightly on your legs under your gaze.

"That's a good name." Apparently she thought so too, climbing up to lick Bakugou in the face. He groaned, lifting the dog up easily so she could cover you in doggy kisses instead as your laughter filled the cool sea air.

Eventually it was time for you to head home, the sun now long gone behind the horizon line of the ocean and replaced with the dark cascade of night and stars. The dog - now officially named Pearl - enjoyed the attention of one webbed hand behind her left ear, Bakugou discovering this new favorite scratching spot minutes earlier. You resolved to bring the dog back every once in a while, though not everyday, still wanting time along with the handsome merman without any distractions.

"Ready to go home?" At the sound of your voice Pearl turned her attention to you, but looked up at Bakugou as if she'd already miss him. He rolled his ruby eyes but resigned to give her one final pat on the head before she trotted over to you, claws clattering along the echoing wood of the pier in the silence of the late evening. "Thanks for all your help, Bakugou. I'm glad you actually sorta like her now," you joked, sticking your tongue out at him similar to his own expression earlier.

He shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal, but didn't miss how his eyes followed Pearl as she sat next to you expectantly. You wondered if, outside of feeling kinship at her lack of home and someone to care for her properly, he was envious of her ability to stay with you. It was a consideration you thought about more than you'd like to admit. Maybe you'd talk with him about it, but that conversation was for another day.

"I'll see you tomorrow…and how about I leave her at home and it just be us?" The small glint in his eyes at the suggestion gave you your answer. "Goodnight Bakugou." As you turned to leave, though, Pearl gave a whine and pointed her nose at the merman still sitting on the pier…as if to ask why he wasn't coming with you, a pang shooting through your heart at the idea.

Bakguou gestured for Pearl to come closer, red eyes observing you before he bent down and seemingly whispered a secret into the dog's furry ear. The scene was bizarre, Pearl almost nodding her head in understanding before jogging back over to you.

"What did you say to her?" Bakugou just put a webbed finger up to his lips and shook his head.

"Secret," he replied with small smirk. Looking between your two companions you couldn't help but laugh at the fact they were apparently having conversations without you.

With one final smile you waved goodbye, Pearl following you down the dark wood-lined path. Crimson eyes followed you like they always did before disappearing with a small splash below the tension of shifting water, wondering if what he asked of the dog was enough to satisfy him for the time being: that she'd watch over you when he could not, and comfort you outside of the small meeting space you shared under shimmering stars.


	15. Chapter 15

**Songs to listen to for this chapter: "Riches and Wonders" by The Mountain Goats and "A Princess without a Voice"**

The lights were blindingly bright in the store as you poured through bathing suits, the clack of plastic hangers scraping against metal bars mixing with the pounding of footprints on worn out fluorescent light-bleached tiles. You honestly didn't care about the type or color of swimwear at all; you were just putting off something that you didn't actually want to do.

It was stupid, really, being self-conscious when everyone at the beach wore one easily in front of everyone else...but your circumstance was a bit different. You weren't going to the beach in the middle of the day to bask in the warm sand and laugh with children in slowly-deflating blow up dolphins. No, you were only going to be seen by the one person who sometimes made you feel inadequate due to no fault of his own. Vulnerability was a scary thing, and you had a feeling this would somehow turn into more than just a swimming lesson.

In the end, you grabbed something off the rack without even bothering to try it on and tossed it on the conveyor belt, wanting to put what should be an incredibly mundane event behind you.

You threw the shopping bag on your bed when you got home, groaning at what was supposed to be something stupidly simple. "Why am I freaking out? What's the big deal? He's just going to teach me to swim, it's not- ugh, why am I nervous?!"

Maybe it was the fact that, while you were normally the one teaching him about things, it was his turn to teach you something - and you'd be completely in his element. You weren't scared, exactly. You knew Bakugou wouldn't let anything happen to you...so what was the problem? A heavy sigh left your lips as you contemplated possibilities. Well, whatever sat like a sinking weight in your stomach hopefully wouldn't wreck this whole situation. With Bakugou being such a quick learner you wanted to impress him just a little bit, to show him you weren't some ungraceful flailing fish in the water compared to his silk-like movements.

After giving yourself a pep talk you finally changed clothes - swimming outfit underneath your normal clothes - and stuffed your bag with the familiar essentials you took on your journeys to the pier. "Wish me luck," you muttered to your cat who flicked his tail at you silently. Pearl on the other hand barked excitedly, wanting to go out with you on a walk-turned-adventure no doubt. "No, sorry. You gotta stay here tonight. I'll take you to see Bakugou tomorrow. Be good, don't shit on the floor!" Closing and locking your apartment door you hoped once again that you wouldn't look like a complete moron in the water, knowing he'd bring it up to poke fun at you at every future opportunity.

By the time you made it to the pier nerves hit you once more. "No turning back now…" Bare feet hovered above the water as you watched the intensely saturated orange and yellow glow of the sunset far on the horizon. Occasionally the blurry silhouette of a boat sail might pass by, but otherwise the water was calm and the air smelled of wet sand and salt and fish. As expected, it didn't take long to feel the familiar glide of wet skin across the ball of your foot, asking silently if it was safe to surface. The soft echo of your knuckles against the wood gave Bakugou his answer.

However, rather than jump up to the pier like he normally did, the blonde merman hovered almost expectantly in the water, familiar ruby eyes looking up at you with mischief. "Well?" he asked, calling up to you.

You furrowed your brows, not understanding his game. "Well what?"

"Swimming lesson?" He flicked some water up at you just to make a point. Being patient wasn't exactly one of his strong points.

"Right now?" You assumed he could hear the hesitation in your voice when he rolled his eyes and dove under the water for a moment, reappearing next to you, strong arms keeping him aloft above the sea. He wore the bracelet you made him, like always. You assumed he hadn't taken it off since you gifted it to him.

He seemed less annoyed up close, luckily. "Scared?" he asked, not taking his eyes off you to judge the honesty of your response. You cleared your throat and attempted to look away, but his gaze was as mesmerizing as it was intimidating.

"No, not scared...nervous, I guess. Trying something for the first time makes most people nervous," you answered, hoping that would satisfy him. You watched as his eyes looked you up and down until his brows furrowed.

"Don't humans need swim clothes?" You were, indeed, wearing the clothes you normally wore that you'd explained were not fit for the water. Maybe he was trying to knock out any excuses you may come up with to postpone the lesson.

While you looked away he eyed you suspiciously. "I have swim clothes on under these, I'll have to take these off." Turning back around you noticed a distinct but new tinge of pink on his cheeks, and now it was his turn to look away. He kept his voice even to break the facade of possible embarrassment.

"Then do it," he demanded, though his tone was soft. Looking back out over the ocean you supposed it was best to start sooner rather than later while you still had sunlight. Standing up you grabbed your bag and pulled out a towel that you'd surely need later. While avoiding looking down at Bakugou you mentally said "fuck it" and stripped out of your clothes leaving only your swimwear behind.

Bakugou watched as you did so, eyes glued to newly-revealed skin. He'd observed people from afar on the beach, but you were obviously the only human he'd come in direct contact with and seen up close. Despite the fact that merpeople had different ideas of modesty and clothing was more decorative or optional than expected, he could feel the tightness in his throat and a warm sensation budding up in his face and chest at the sight. Wandering thoughts flitted into his imagination at times, but seeing you now put some assumptions to rest: from the waist up you looked like a merperson aside from the lack of more fish-like traits like gills and webbing. The lower half he needed to, well, not stare at with intense curiosity, honestly. Still...to use a word you'd introduced him to, he thought you looked very handsome.

"Stop gawking you weirdo," you mumbled, stepping out of your pants while looking over at him still hanging off the edge of the pier. Realizing he'd been caught staring Bakugou blinked and attempted to play it off as a moment merely lost in thought. "Wait, how do I get down? And, shit, how do I get back up if there's no ladder out here?" You looked around, wondering how you'd make this work since the pier wasn't exactly a spot meant for casual swimming lessons. The worry of the actual swimming had overshadowed logistical problems. Perfect.

"Just jump," Bakugou answered as if that was the most obvious choice. "Worry about getting up later."

It was easier said than done, honestly. He could help you back to shore and you'd just go back up the pier from the beach, but the last time you were in the water was when he unceremoniously pulled you down without warning. That was the first and only time he'd done something of the sort, though. With a sigh you sat back down, letting your legs dangle over the side of the pier. This time of day the air was starting to feel cool, the soft breeze of the ocean sending goosebumps over your skin. Bakugou watched but remained silent as the hair on your arms stood up, wondering if it was a natural human reaction to removing clothing or something else.

Jitters hit you once more as you looked down past your feet into the dark water below. A cool wet hand touched your own, making you jump a little at the sudden contact as your attention shifted from the vast ocean ahead of you to Bakugou next to you. Looking to the side intense ruby eyes were steady and determined.

"I catch you, just jump," he emphasized with a confident grin. Of course he'd catch you, it was never a doubt that even entered your mind. All you could do though was nod as he let go of your hand and dropped back down into the water, waiting for you to hopefully do as he asked.

"Dammit…" you said, biting your lip before taking a deep breath. "Fuck it!" Screwing your eyes shut you hopped off the pier and into the jarringly cool water below. Your arms and legs flailed as you felt surrounded by dense and overpowering darkness, encroaching and dangerous behind your closed eyes. Water shot up your nose and you couldn't breathe, panic start to set in. Suddenly something wrapped around your waist and pulled until you felt a gust of air hit your face, surfacing from the water as you gasped for air.

It took a minute for you to relax enough to open your eyes. You looked up to see the underside of the pier, barnacles and seaweed stuck to the bottom like secret pockmarks where human eyes rarely saw. The water was cool but not unbearable as you felt the goosebumps return. The arm around your waist tightened, pulling your back flush against Bakugou's chest as he rested his chin on your shoulder casually as if this was no big deal. His tail shifted under your legs, disturbing the water just enough to keep the two of you afloat easily. The rise and fall of his chest against your back acted as a gentle comfort.

"Told you," he declared, aware of his jaw moving against your skin.

"I didn't doubt you." He lifted one of your arms out of the water, turning it gently one way and then the other.

"What are these bumps?" A webbed thumb stroked across your forearm, feeling the slightly raised skin from the chilled water. His touch was considerate but inquiring.

Something you just now realized but hadn't thought about deeply was that, outside of the hair on his head, Bakugou didn't seem to have any body hair at all. It did make sense that merpeople wouldn't have hair - maybe it was an evolutionary trait - since it would create an obvious drag in the water, considering professional divers and swimmers who wore swimming caps and removed most of their body hair. He still had eyebrows and eyelashes and the hair on his head, though...but it was probably fruitless to deeply examine the logistics of merman anatomy, honestly. Considering this small difference between the two of you, one he hadn't seen before, his curiosity seemed justified.

"Oh, uh, sometimes when people are cold we get these little bumps on our skin-" He interrupted before you finished explaining.

"You're cold? But water is warm."

It most certainly, to you, was not warm. "This is warm? No, it's cold."

He just scoffed. "Cold is deep down, very far away. It warm to me, here." Oh, well shit. That made sense. Surface water that felt the heat of the sun would obviously feel warmer compared to currents flowing far below the gently curling waves plastered on beach postcards. Since Bakugou traveled between the two different depths, he would be able to tell the difference. Still, to you it was cold and nothing he said changed that fact.

"Won't be cold if you swim," he teased, starting to pull away from your back.

"W-wait, wait uh-" Without his immediate support you weren't sure what to do with your arms and legs, already starting to feel yourself lower into the water. But Bakugou was right there behind you still and caught you around the middle before you started to sink.

This...might be more difficult than he thought. Swimming came so naturally to him that he hadn't thought far enough ahead to know how to actually teach you. Since you didn't have a tail he couldn't explain things the same way, either. Although he sometimes watched people from afar he never dared close enough to strangers to actually see how they moved in the water. The only time he'd really seen a human keeping themselves afloat properly was not long after the two of you met, and that other human was pushed over the side by another. Bakugo hid himself quickly under the darkness of the pier to avoid being seen, but remembered watching her legs kick which prevented her from sinking before you helped her back onto dry land. It was a start, at least.

"Kick your feet," he declared against your ear. Putting his arms under your armpits to hold you up, he extended his hands in front of you and mimicked the motion he remembered feet and legs making underwater. "Like this."

You watched his simple display before looking down through the water at your own dangling legs, an orange and black tail disappearing gradually into the low visibility of the water below. You felt like a child being taught something you should already know, honestly, but there was no getting around it.

Hesitantly you moved your feet underwater, alternating between one and then the other, feeling how the density slowed you down more than you were expecting. It was understandable how swimmers looked so muscular and lean if their whole bodies were moving against this kind of constant resistance. You could feel Bakugou peering over your shoulder as if to make sure you were doing as he asked.

"Uh, I guess this is right, but how- wait, hold on!" His arms started to slip out from under your armpits, curious to see if you could at least keep yourself afloat like this; instead you took a page out of his own book and clamped your arms down on his to keep him in place. "Don't you dare leave, Bakugou."

"I won't leave!" You knew he was stronger than you and could probably pull out of your grip without much trouble, but instead he did something you didn't expect: he started to swim backwards, pulling you gradually away from the pier as you felt his tail vibrate the water under you with little effort. As a reaction you gripped onto his arms tighter to make sure you wouldn't slip away.

"Woah, wait, where are we going?" The safety of dry land was almost literally ripped from you as you continued your journey backwards. Luckily after a while he stopped, but not before the coast appeared as a faraway strip that blurred in your vision with the setting sun. There was no turning back, now.

"I not let you go," he said as you felt the water rushing past your sides slowly to the natural current of the waves as they drifted up and down almost simulating the intake and exhale of a living, breathing ocean. It was as calming out here as it was nerve-racking, despite having Bakugou here with you. You were reminded briefly of your dream months ago, of suffocating under a limitless darkness without air or escape or safety, of sinking into a feeling of ineluctable loneliness; and just like then someone reached out to save you, except now the strong hand had a face and voice and smile that sent warmth down your spine like sipping your favorite flavor of tea. You realized in that moment what this meant: he wanted you to trust him far away from your pillar of safety, to let him support you - both literally and figuratively. With that in mind you calmed your racing pulse...or tried to, anyway.

"I know," you answered, slowly loosening the grip on his arms. He took this as affirmation to move, but he did so quickly and always had a hand on you as he quickly appeared at your front, wrapping his hands around your forearms to keep you steady as your feet kicked below you.

Without him to lean back on you felt more unsteady, but at least you weren't sinking. The last remnants of sunlight were disappearing, the water a gradient from dark orange to blue and finally to almost black closest to shore. It was honestly beautiful this far out, your trepidation with unfamiliar territory slowly subsiding as you took in your surroundings of open water. There were no other people around, and you couldn't hear any boats nearby or planes overhead, so it seemed to be just Bakugou and yourself.

"You look like a merperson," he stated, jarring you out of your trance. He was staring at you intently as the water lapped up around your intertwined arms.

"I do?" you asked curiously. He nodded, tilting his head to the side slightly not unlike a perplexed puppy.

"Legs hidden under water. No gills, but...we look the same."

You thought about his words for a moment, processing their meaning and implication. Bakugou was right in a way; out here in liquid obscurity and outside of minor physical differences, he looked more human than ever. That simple idea of connecting to what was visible and what was hidden by water, almost acting as a sort of bridge across the gap of your two worlds and experiences, made your pulse race.

It also made you hyper aware of the bracelet bouncing gently against your forearm, flowing up and down and in and out with the ocean current.

"What you smiling at?" Bakugou followed your gaze to the bracelet, eyes widening a fraction in realization.

"Have you taken it off since I gave it to you?" Curiosity got the better of you, wanting to know if he really did keep it on all the time. He looked almost sheepish, an expression you rarely saw on him.

"No," he answered, crimson eyes glued to the floating jewelry.

You cleared your throat, bringing his attention back to you as a question you'd considered asking multiple times only now seemed appropriate. "When I gave it to you, your friend seemed kind of upset. Is it something bad for merpeople and you just didn't want to tell me?"

Bakugou seemed jarred by the question, brows furrowing and lips forming a thin line before shaking his head from side to side as damp blonde hair swishing across his forehead. "No, not bad. It…" He trailed off, and you got the sense that he was having an inner debate on whether or not to voice whatever ideas were floating around in his head. His non-answer gave you insight into your question, though: it did have some type of meaning, but of what kind you weren't sure.

"You don't have to tell me, I was just curious. If you like it that's all I care about," you muttered, shrugging a bit. You were adjusting to the cool water, but sudden movements splashed droplets onto your skin above the water making you shiver a bit. A warm bath when you got home sounded heavenly.

A webbed thumb glided slowly across your forearm, almost unnoticed if you weren't already hyper-aware of your surroundings and the one person keeping you properly afloat in open water. You watched as he opened and closed his mouth several times, as if he was just on the cusp of letting the words spill out.

"It's alright if-" but he cut you off, apparently deciding to be forward rather than keep you in the dark.

"I do like it!" he all but snapped, which caught you off-guard. Bakugou reeled himself back as you watched the muscles in his neck tense when he swallowed an invisible lump. "Gift like this...for merpeople, it usually given by someone to…" Once again Bakugou trailed off, and even in the dim remnants of sunset you could distinguish what could only be called a faint blush on his cheeks. "...potential mate." The last bit was barely audible, but you caught it.

Your legs promptly stopped working as you started to sink.

"Wh- oh!" Before the water reached your chin Bakugou pulled you forward enough - still an arms length away - to keep you afloat using the momentum of the water until you got a hold of yourself, kicking your feet to bring you back up to the surface proper. "Shit...uh…"

Now the two of you were left in awkward silence as you processed his words: the gift you gave him was apparently something merpeople used as a kind of, what, engagement present?! He'd mentioned mates before when you first discussed the concept of dating, but you hadn't asked about it since then because of his aversion to the subject when he told you he didn't have a mate.

Oh. Oh, fuck. That realization made you feel incredibly warm and flustered despite the bumps still littering your arms from the cool water and sea air. Bakugou stared at you almost worriedly, probably wondering if he should have kept his mouth shut.

"Bakugou...what's your definition of 'mate'? What does it mean for your people?" Managing to gain your voice back you really needed to know what the hell this meant. He'd accepted the bracelet and seemed happy with it, but now you had a partial answer when questioning why his friend Kirishima seemed concerned: you gave Bakugou a gift which now, you assumed, meant you were interested in him being a mate...whatever the hell that meant. Kirishima was just looking out for his friend.

The merman froze at your question, hands stiffening around your forearms as he avoided your own stare. After a moment he seemed to pull back in the determination you saw in him so often. "Mates are bonded. Make promise to help each other, support each other. Bonds can be broken...but rare. It means they together in all ways."

Again you felt the bracelet move against your skin, but you were only focused on Bakugou now. "Is it like a marriage?" you asked with furrowed brows, still needing more clarification that this "bond" he spoke of wasn't just an intense, dedicated friendship.

"What's marriage?" he asked. Oh, now it was your turn for explanations.

"Uh, well...remember a long while back when I told you about dating?" He nodded, prompting you to continue. "Marriage is like dating, except you commit yourself to someone on a more long-term level. It's not just spending time with someone who you care about, it's sort of like a bond, I guess, between people who love each other." You let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding, chest coming back in towards your spine almost shakily as you finished explaining. Bakugou's fingers shifted against your arm, again.

"Do you give gifts?" he asked a bit hesitantly.

You gave him a nod. "Yeah, but note bracelets like yours. Humans give rings that go on your fingers," you explained, wiggling one of your hands, not wanting to let go of his arm completely. "I don't think you can wear rings, though, because of the skin between your fingers."

At that he looked down at his own hand, stretching one finger and then another, pulling tight the membrane of skin between the joints.

"You said 'a gift like this' so what does that mean? They aren't always bracelets?" you asked among the back and forth of questions.

By now the sun had disappeared leaving you in water that reminded you of ink, the current shifting and gentle breeze urging the surface forwards and backwards as a bright white moon spotlighted the two of you as if on stage for no audience besides the stars.

He shook his head. "No. Gift must be made, not found. Special for...for the other person." Ah, now you understood. You'd crafted the bracelet specifically with Bakugou in mind; honestly it was thoughtful and kind of romantic, making such an important gift for someone compared to buying an expensive and cold ring in jewelry store.

"So now, I have to ask...when you took my gift, what did you expect? Or, I guess, what...what do you want it to mean?" You swallowed hard, wanting almost to sink into the covers of your bed and hide from whatever expectant answer he gave to such a loaded question.

Immediately you could feel him tense against your forearms and avoid your gaze as you stared at him, Bakugou's silhouette almost glowing from the radiating light of the moon in the nearly cloudless sky. You could feel your heart beating against your chest in anticipation as you watched him fidget and gather his thoughts. He rarely left a question unanswered, though this was definitely one of the more emotionally heavier questions you'd thrown his way since meeting him months ago.

Red eyes avoided you still as his mouth moved, voice barely audible against the waves and occasional seagull overhead. "I swam from home, they not want me, say I'm reckless...bring danger…" His breath trailed off, and for a moment you weren't sure if this was his way of changing the subject or if there was a roundabout goal at the end of whatever tunnel of memories he was barreling towards.

He took a trembling breath before continuing. "I train to keep them safe, keep home safe...but instead I hurt-"

"Bakugou, it's not-"

"Who would want me?!" he all but screamed, interrupting your attempt at comfort. If you were on solid ground you might have jumped at the outburst, but instead remained stationary as his hands gripped your forearms as if he would be the one to float away or sink instead of yourself. You stared at his face, contorted between some internalized fear of isolation and rejection coupled with insecurities that bubbled up to the surface like a boiling pot ready to whistle. It made your throat go dry and your spine chill at the idea that Bakugou - normally strong and determined and brutally honest - was still hurting from the idea of rejection from his home and everything he knew, and he now projected that fear into the idea that no one would want him.

His voice now lowered to barely a shudder, but his jaw was clenched tightly and the muscles in his arms and neck bulged from unintended strain. "I not protect them, my home, what I train to do. How could I protect mate?"

You weren't expecting such an outburst, honestly, but it made sense considering the only times he'd let his emotions loose so freely and vehemently were during moments of anger or vulnerability. Despite the water growing colder and your legs growing tired from keeping you afloat in the rise and fall of gentle night waves like star-stained ink, the shiver you felt speed through your veins had nothing to do with the environment. Bakugou, who you cared about so deeply and passionately at this point, felt like no one would want him due to him fleeing his home in favor of his own self-preservation and safety. He'd come a long way with his self-blame, but apparently this specific topic remained an open wound. Aside from Kirishima and yourself...he was alone, and that crippling idea nearly brought tears to the corners of your eyes. However, he had not answered your question properly; did he think you…?

Whispering his name brought Bakugou back from whatever depressive echo of self-inflicted guilt that began weaving its way into his mind as his expression softened. The grip on your forearms remained steady, though.

"Listen to me. If anyone sees you as dangerous, or a threat, or uncaring then they're fucking blind, honestly," you rattled off with as steady a voice you could muster while gripping the muscles underneath his cool wet skin. "Maybe I haven't relayed it to you properly, and for that I'm sorry. Emotions are hard to vocalize, sometimes, when you aren't sure how they'll be received...but I need you to know something."

Attempting to swallow before moving forward proved difficult, your throat a mixture of dry and constricting, as if molasses clung to your airway and stopped halfway down. Bakugou's fixed stare and expression of concentrated attention pushed you forward.

"When I first met you I wasn't sure what to think. It was some weird combination of excited and scared and happy all at the same time. You were a myth, a fantasy, that I didn't think existed...it was hard to believe, honestly." You watched as his brows furrowed, probably wondering what this had to do with the heaviness of the current topic. "Just...lemme talk, all of this has a point I promise."

He nodded and you continued, again focusing on sorting out your words and thoughts while trying not to think about how cold the water had become.

"But I kept coming back, and realized I wasn't dreaming or going crazy. You're very real, there's no denying that. We couldn't even talk properly in the beginning, but I think a lot can be said without words, too."

You thought about all the small and fleeting glances he curved your way when he thought you wouldn't notice, and how Bakugou gradually became more comfortable with close contact and cursory touches. One of his current favorite spots was resting across your lap, his tail dangling lazily over the edge of the pier as you told him stories about faraway places that he'd never have the pleasure of visiting himself while one of your hands lazily wound its way into his damp hair. Those evenings were always calm and enjoyable.

"You've also changed a lot...in a good way, I mean. There was a lot of baggage rolling around in your head about your circumstances for leaving your home, and I know you still feel guilty even though you shouldn't." He tensed against your arms as you brought up the topic of home, even though he'd started the conversation with this very story. "I mean it, Bakugou. You shouldn't feel like it was your fault."

He started to protest. "But-"

You cut him off before any more self-depreciating words came out. "No! Fuck, I'm absolutely serious right now. Do you have any idea how much you've helped me since we met?"

The question caught him unawares, ruby eyes staring at you with his mouth slightly agape, as if the ideas was as unbelievable as the idea that merpeople were real. This was turning into a long-winded display of emotional vomit, but you couldn't stop now; too much remained unsaid.

"I think it started when I got stood up on that stupid date, and I was alone and felt like shit...then you showed up kinda out of nowhere and kept me company and made me laugh, and I think I knew then that I wanted to keep coming back to see you, because it felt good when we were together. Jesus it's cold now," you mumbled, shivering a bit. It was now a distraction that you couldn't really ignore. Bakugou must have either heard or noticed because you were jerked forward by your arms nearly into his chest, close enough now for your fingertips to brush against the sides of his torso if you willed them to. It was difficult to resist.

"I'm used to cold. If you want to go back-" Shaking your head you dismissed his head.

"No, no I'll be fine. This uh, swimming lesson is pretty shit honestly but that's fine. There will be other days to teach me." An almost offended looked look crossed his handsome face. "I can kick my legs but otherwise I'm useless."

"Are not!" he protested, but you just laughed at his literal interpretation of your words.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I just meant with swimming and keeping my priorities straight now. So let me continue my ranting. Remember when you practically yelled at how I was better than all other humans, and that everyone else was stupid?" you asked with a slight grin.

Rather than look embarrassed he seemed proud at the memory. "It true, they are stupid. You not," he emphasized once more, voice close and confident.

You hummed before continuing once more. "That stuck with me, you know. A lot of things you said have. In a way it's...kept me safe, just like you wanted."

In the quiet of the night you heard his breath hitch in his throat and felt his fingers tighten around your upper arms and saw the sparkling of stars reflected in his eyes the color of shimmering rubies. His silence spurred you forward. "I care about you, Bakugou, I need you to know that...which is why I'm going to ask again: what do you want the bracelet to mean? Because the idea that no one would want you is fuckin' absurd, honestly."

The words fell from your lips before you could stop them, but you couldn't take them back as realization hit. It was about time he knew how you felt, and it hurt too much seeing him talk shit about himself thinking of potential rejection.

Still in the cool water you sensed his strong tail swishing beneath your feet, occasionally feeling the brush of fins against your soles like whispers of the deep. Bakugou looked away, off in a direction that stretched into nothing but dark, open water. Afraid he might not answer, your fingertips skimmed the cool skin of his torso, a minuscule something to bring his attention back to you; it worked as he slowly turned back to you, expression unreadable outside of furrowed brows beneath pale blonde hair.

His mouth opened as if to speak, but nothing came out if his voice had drifted off into the current swaying the two of you from side to side. Maybe he didn't understand the full meaning of your words, but you wanted to hear his response before elaborating. "I...I not have legs, I can't go where you go."

Maybe he did understand, but something - a threadbare rope, fraying and weak and ready to snap - still held him back as he avoided a direct answer.

"Do you give a shit that I don't have a tail?"

The look he gave you made laughter bubbled up in your chest, something close to a sneer as if your question was ludicrous; it was a small break in the heavy conversation. "Hell no! Legs weird but I still like 'em," he said with a slight blush coating his face.

"You're weird."

"No, you," he spat back, familiar smirk returning.

"I know where we meet is kind of limited, but that little photo exchange we did a while back helped a bit. And I mean, I'm out here, aren't I? It's small, but it's a step. You even said earlier I looked like a merperson."

"I can never look human…" Dejection littered his tone as he aired out the one-sidedness of this exchange. But you shook your head to dismiss his unfounded concerns.

"That's not true; and what makes someone human isn't how they look. There are humans with no legs, some have no arms, and others might not be able to talk or see. Appearance isn't what makes a person human, Bakugou."

He seemed genuinely taken aback by that information, apparently under the assumption that all humans must have two arms and two legs. "No legs…? How they walk?"

"Some sit in chairs with wheels to get around, like wheels that are on cars. Some have fake legs they can put on to get around," you answered with a shrug. "The point is...humans all look different, and a lack of something doesn't make someone less human."

"Then...what make someone human?" Low and almost breathless he asked the question you knew he needed explained.

Slowly you brought a hand up out of the water and resisted a twitch at the sudden wave of cool air that hit your damp skin as you poked a single finger at his chest, right where you assumed his heart would be. "In here, what you feel makes you human. And you have a tail, and gills, and fins for ears, but who cares? If those details didn't make me pull away when we met, why would I pull away now?"

Placing your palm flat against his muscled chest you met his stare; he really was beautiful, and no amount of scars or emotional baggage would change that fact. You swore you could feel his pulse accelerate underneath your skin.

One of his hands - the one with the bracelet - came up to hesitantly touch your own chest, fingertips pressing into your skin like a mimic. Just that small gesture sent shivers down your spine that had nothing to do with the cold water. A plane few far overhead, lights blinking and moving like a slow-moving shooting star, but you didn't even notice.

"We both bleed, and we both breathe, and we both have beating hearts. We're alive and can communicate and spend time together...do you understand?" He'd remained silent for too long, and you needed something, small as it may be, to make you feel like this wasn't in vain.

After an eternity that passed by in no more than thirty seconds he nodded, eyes never leaving yours. "What you feel...make you human?" Keeping your hand on his chest you smiled.

"Yeah. And I mean, I'm no merperson...but maybe it's something similar? Unless I suck at swimming so much I look like a flailing fish," you said in an attempt to break the seriousness of the conversation. That did force the corners of his lips up as he rolled his eyes at your antics.

"You definitely not fish...too clumsy." At that jab you took your hand away from his chest and splashed him in the face, but of course he was unaffected by the spray of water, smiling at you with familiar mischief.

"Asshole…" you mumbled, just low enough for him not to hear. "But anyway, what I'm trying to say is, uh...if you want the bracelet to hold your meaning then…" trailing off you could see him watching you intently, still close enough for your fingertips to lightly graze his body where his more human half transitioned into fish scales of orange and black and gold. No holding back, now. "...then I accept, Bakugou."

Immediately he stilled, not that he was moving around much to begin with, but his webbed hand around your upper arm tensed and the corners of his mouth twitched and his pretty red eyes went wide and his cheeks flushed against his pale skin nearly glowing in the darkness. His breath was a shudder in the night.

"You...you want to...with…?" Words failed him as Bakugou processed your answer. On reflex you laughed seeing his normal confidence had disappeared for a majority of this conversation.

"I feel like I've talked a lot, so why don't you let me know what you think of all this? You still haven't given me a real answer, by the way. I've just been going off assumptions, really. Don't hold back." You grabbed the hand sporting the bracelet and ran your now pruney fingers along the weave; it looked no worse for wear compared to when you gifted it to him weeks ago, so your choice of materials proved appropriate.

Maybe he took it as a challenge seeing you be so open and honest during this failure of a swimming lesson. Suddenly you felt him dip and sink below the water, nearly pulling you down with him in as his head disappeared underneath the surface briefly before coming back up, easing your brief panic. He shook his hair from side to side, spraying you with cool salt water like he always did. When he looked up you noted his change in demeanor, a new vigor and determination in his eyes. A splash of cool water can do wonders to clear the mind, sometimes.

"I not as good with words as you, but you teach me a lot. You not scared of me, you not run away or think I'm bad. Give me food, teach me words, show me pictures...say I'm important, and handsome," he divulged, practically puffing out his chest at the word "handsome" like the smug motherfucker he was. "You listen, and patient, and helpful...help me like I help you."

His hand, cool and wet and strong, twisted just enough to line his fingers up with yours, fingertips pressing against the near-invisible swirls imbedded into your skin. Eventually he continued, eyes trained on your own.

"You teach me to not blame myself, for bad things…" A wash of warmth spread over you like fresh apple cider on a winter evening as the words left his mouth in something barely above a whisper, but he held you close enough for it to register. "Scars on tail aren't bad, you say I look strong," he added a bit more forcefully.

"You are strong, and smart, and whole lot of other things, too. You're better than most people I know." The confidence that drew you in like fish to a baited lure started to peek through with every compliment you tossed his way.

"You...important. Even dumb Kirishima saw. That why he was upset...he know I care. Don't want to be alone."

Again you were reminded of the drunken evening on the pier after your failed date, wallowing briefly in self-loathing and imagining a future alone, absent of the warmth and comfort and company of another. Things had drastically changed for the better since meeting Bakugou and you wouldn't exchange your evenings with him for, well, anything honestly. You knew how you felt - you'd known for a while even through nights of denial - but as the water around you grew colder the compulsion to blurt it out multiplied with each passing minute.

With fingers still pressed against his you held back a shiver. "Bakugou. You're an amazing person - and yeah, I do think of you as a person with a tail, basically. We went over that bit earlier," you declared while trying not to shiver in the water. "It means a lot that I'm important to you...because you're important to me too. And if you're alright with what we have now then that's what I want going forward. Look, what I'm trying to say is...uh.."

With furrowed brows the merman with piercing red eyes stared right at you and said "Spit it out," impatient for your honesty despite his own hesitancy in revealing emotional vulnerability.

"I love you," you blurted out. Well, there it was, out in the open. As soon as the words left your mouth your ears and face felt noticeably warm as a blush flooded your skin with the open-air confession. Immediately Bakugou stilled - even his tail moving steadily underneath your feet all this time came to a distinct halt for a moment - and you swore a shooting star reflected across his eyes like firelight in a wooded campground: a spark of warmth and life in the darkness.

His mouth opened and closed but nothing came out, and honestly this was about as close to a fish he'd ever looked with wide eyes and stunned almost blank expression.

"Fuck it, yeah, I love you, Bakugou. Like, I'm in love with you and I can't not hold that in anymore." You spoke and as long as the words flowed from your heart you didn't plan on stopping, because if you did the fear of being totally defenseless in his element surrounded by open water in the silent aftermath of an incredibly blunt love confession scared the shit out of you. "Along with all the other stuff I've blabbered on about all night and past nights and everything up to this point, I think about you before I go to sleep, and sometimes you even show up in my dreams. But you aren't always a merman, sometimes you're just a feeling or a color or a sensation and I still know it's you because there's no one else it could be, and I wake up feeling happy even though I wake up alone and you aren't there. I like the way you sorta purr like a cat when I run my hand through your hair, or when you look flustered when I catch you staring and you think I don't know, or how nice it feels to just sit in silence with you on the pier and enjoy your company, and-"

"Shut up," Bakugou interrupted. He seemed almost breathless despite being silent while you spilled your emotionally vulnerable guts to him.

"Wh..what? I'm not-"

"Stop talking." Your eyes seemed unfocused and blurry on everything outside of his smoldering stare. Bakugou reached forward to cup your face under your jaw, cool fingers experimental on your skin before his expression changed to the dogged determination of someone about to jump off a cliff into the abyss of weightless uncertainty. In one swift motion he pulled you forward, water splashing up between the two of you, and smashed his mouth against yours.

He'd never kissed before, that much was obvious. It was lopsided and messy and rough and your noses brushed awkwardly, but you didn't care. His lips were surprisingly warm in comparison to his hands, which held your face like a gravitational pull, his fingers tickling the space behind your earlobes and feeling the muscles tense in your neck. Your nose was filled with the familiar smell of salt and smoldering campfires, his breath alighting gently across the peach fuzz of your cheek.

Bakugou pulled away and opened his eyes - you were close enough to see the endless spectrum of flaming stars in his pupils, the gold flecks in his tail mirrored like glitter in faceted rubies - an unasked question lingering in his stare.

"Why'd you stop?" you asked. Before he could react you grabbed his shoulders and brought him back to you, unable to resist his magnetic pull. He tensed for a moment before sinking back into your lips, his hands curving up the back of your neck and winding into your wet hair.

Your legs kicked distractedly to keep you afloat, but Bakugou held the both of you up easily - his tail disturbing the dark water below with slow rhythmic movement - as one arm snaked to the small of your back so you were now flush with his chest, the bracelet brushing against the bare skin of your spine. One hand shifted over his shoulder to dig your fingertips into his strong back muscles. Time seemed to stand still as months of emotional buildup ruptured in a single point of requited contact, your chest filling up with the taste and touch and smell of him to erase a hollow ache that had been slowly fading for months.

He was eager, and you obliged without complaint. Small gasps and the sound of slippery skin filling your ears like a symphony of sensation. You moved faster and he matched the pace, adjusting to this new affection with the energy and fervor Bakugou poured into everything he did in his pursuit of being the best he could at whatever was thrown his way.

…Until he accidentally bit your lip, causing you to pull away. "Ow, shit…watch the teeth." You tasted the brief tang of iron on your tongue, opening your eyes for the first time in minutes to see him staring back at you with an apologetic look. "It's ok, don't worry about it," you said, but he leaned forward with slowed movements to softly kiss away the sting of blood before touching your foreheads together - one arm still wrapped securely around the small of your back - and looked at you with unwavering acceptance.

"Is it true?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper against your skin.

"Is what true?" you replied almost breathless.

"What you said." You could feel the beating of his heart against your chest, slightly off-tempo from your own. Maybe his heart was bigger or smaller than yours; maybe it was hooked up differently to accommodate dense low depths far below the water's surface; maybe it was a different color than yours, but none of that mattered. His blood was still red, pumping into the muscle that vibrated against your skin like a drum with no sound.

"Yeah, I meant it. I don't take back a single word." A light laugh bubbled up like spun cotton candy, sweet and full of air. "You know how long I've been wanting to say all that?"

He smiled and rolled his eyes before bringing you close once more, but instead rested his chin in the crook of your neck and nuzzled against you; at this point he was basically a catfish with how many shared traits he displayed with your own cat at home. Breathe warm on your ear he asked "Too long?"

This moment felt like a lucid dream, an event so nearly unbelievable but you still controlled most of the situation as you nodded against his shoulder and hummed in quiet answer.

"As much as I'd like to stay out here with you, can we uh...go back to the pier? Because I'm gonna freeze at this point," you mumbled. Hours spent in the cold water wasn't exactly planned and your toes were starting to go numb in addition to knowing you'd come out looking like a wrinkled prune.

However, your thoughts were interrupted as your vision captured something a bit odd...a shape in the water? It moved against the direction of the waves so it didn't appear like floating trash or- oh...oh, no.

"Bakugou," you urgently whispered next to his fin-like ear. "L-look, there's a, uh-" Panic started to set in as you pushed him away by his shoulders, seeing the confusion in his face. "Look!" you exclaimed, taking his face in your palms and turning him to stare at what caught your attention.

A sharp intake of breath cut through the salty air as you felt his fingers dig into your skin, ruby eyes fixated pointedly on a moving triangular silhouette, black and solid and highlighted at the top by minimal moonlight, separating it from the backdrop of night.

A vicious and low growl echoed in your ears as anger radiated from Bakugou like flames licking up from a torch; you'd never seen him so livid and it was almost frightening, but you knew the spike in temper wasn't directed towards you. The silhouette sliced through the water like a dagger through flesh as it started to circle around. Luckily Bakugou and yourself hovered between the shore and what you assumed now was a dorsal fin, so it wasn't blocking your exit...yet.

"We go now," he hissed, eyes still fixated on the gliding shape in the water as he watched and waited for any sudden movements or reactions. You felt an arm wrap around your midsection while also noticing you were slowly being pulled against the current, Bakugou dragging you back towards shore. Although the fin moved at an odd pace back and forth it still seemed just a bit slower than Bakugou's own rate of speed. Eyes of fire remained focused behind you knowing it was a straight shot back to shore as your heart rate accelerated behind your cold skin.

His powerful tail beat below your useless feet, propelling him forward as the fin - you still had no idea what the shape belonged to but you had no desire to find out - suddenly dove under the water and disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. A seen enemy was no doubt less dangerous than invisible one, and Bakugou must have read your mind as his speed increased drastically, the pier finally closing in and the near-endless oceanic expanse stretched once more into darkness. The fin did not reappear.

Rather than stopping at the pier he kept going, no doubt remembering you needed a route to walk back up to your familiar spot. Only when the water was shallow enough for your feet to feel sand and shells and rocks did he finally stop, a strong arm still wrapped around your torso protectively and eyes scanning around for any sign of movement in the water as if on autopilot.

"Bakugou," you whispered against his temple. He didn't react. "Hey, it's alright, we're OK." Again he remained still, a living statue in the water. Finally you brought your pruney hands up to cup his face and force him to face you, jumping a bit at your touch. Now that you could look into your eyes his expression - one of definite fear as his anger softened and dissipated - it broke your heart, reminding you of the look he gave when first describing the shark that ultimately drove him from home.

"You safe…" he finally mumbled, eyes seeing you truly for the first time since he started swimming back to shore. Lurching forward he wrapped his arms around you tightly, head buried between your neck and shoulder as the fins of his tail ghosted across the shallow water. Your own hands come up to rest on his back as you held each other in comfort.

"We're safe, we're fine," you said in some attempt to console him despite your own pulse still racing from the fact you'd been literally chased by something in the water. He held you as if afraid you might sink and disappear from his arms like sand through open fingers. As much as you wanted to stay here your body was about at it's limit from the cold water so postponing a retreat was no longer an option. "Hey, I need to get out of the water and back onto the pier. Can you meet me over in our spot?"

Reluctantly Bakugou loosened his hold on you though he didn't meet your eyes as he nodded and began backing away...but instead you kissed his cheek softly, lips brushing against his cool smooth skin. That seemed to rouse him a bit from his trance, finally letting go so you could walk up to shore, looking back over your shoulder as he watched you intently as if to make sure you were still safe.

Now out of the water the breeze felt especially cold on your skin as you shivered while trying to keep your teeth from comically clacking together. Scanning the area to make sure no one was neither on the pier nor watching you the flickering old lamps overhead highlighted your path down to the end of the long familiar walkway as you feft damp footprints in the wood grain like the ghost in the night retracing old and forgotten steps towards a watery demise.

Bakugou already sat on the edge of the pier, no doubt wanting to get out of the water for the time being. Luckily all of your things seemed in order so no one had come by and stolen or messed with anything while you'd been wholly distracted by a swimming lesson turned love confession. That idea sent butterflies fluttering through your chest as you quickly grabbed up your towel and wrapped it around your shoulders before sitting down next to the merman who had, despite any and all fantastical and unexpected circumstances, captured your heart.

"Hey," you said, nudging him in the shoulder. "You saved me, you know. So you can forget about your worries with keeping me or anyone else safe. ."

"Say it again," he muttered, barely audible even in the silent echo of the evening as it grew colder and later. You knew what he referred to.

"I love you, Bakugou."

"Again."

"I love you."

"More," he said almost urgently, turning towards you with eyes no longer scared but instead asking a silent question of reassurance: to make sure this wasn't a dream, to make sure you were safe, to make sure he could see the honest passion and vulnerability behind your own eyes.

"I love you," you said once more before he reached forward and wrapped his arms around your neck, pulling you in for a searing kiss as if it was the last one he might ever taste...but it wasn't, and it wouldn't be.

The air sang with soft words and a safeguard of protection under the moon, a glowing audience in a sky full of eyes: witnesses to warm blood vibrating against cold skin and beating hearts echoing like a chorus in chests no longer empty with loneliness.

After a while he'd finally calmed down from fearing for your safety, but was no less affectionate as he lay across your lap, tail wrapped loosely around one of your legs as it dangled over the edge towards the water, your arms wrapped around his waist and your chin resting atop his damp hair. One webbed hand lazily but carefully toyed with the strands in his bracelet. It was extremely late at this point, and treading water for long had left you exhausted, but leaving now felt premature. He seemed tired as well - both physically and emotionally - but neither of you were ready to let go of the other quite yet. There was one last thing you needed to ask of him before you went back home.

"Bakugou...I need to ask something of you."

"What?" he inquired, craning his head up to look you in the eyes. He was absolutely not going to like this.

"Don't get mad...well, you might, but just hear me out before you start yelling." At that he furrowed his brows with a bit of concern, but kept silent as you continued. "I want you here with me, to keep visiting you everyday."

At your words he grinned. "You better," he said although he was well aware your words rang true.

Taking a deep breath to steel yourself you said "I need you to go back home...back to your home. You only have to go once but-"

"Why?!" he immediately spat, obviously not expecting such a demand from you. "I not want to go back! They not want me, so why should I?"

You predicted this type of response, but he needed to understand why you'd ask something of him that he was obviously opposed to after what he'd experienced.

"Bakugou, just listen for a second," you protested, taking your hands away from his waist to sit on his scaled shoulders. "I know you don't want to go back, and I would never ask you to do this unless I thought it was fucking important for you to move forward from your past. I think you need the closure of knowing they all don't hate you, or are mad at you, and none of it was your fault; despite what you assume I don't think it'll be nearly as bad as you think."

"I know they hate me," he insisted, still clearly upset at your request. "I just want to be here with you, not there."

A heavy sigh escaped through your nose knowing this would be an uphill battle. "I won't make you go if you really don't want to...but I think it would be good for you, believe it or not. I know you miss your home at least sometimes. And who knows, if things go well that means you can visit again, see your friends and family. I'll be right here waiting for you, I'm not going to leave and I'm not asking you to leave, either. All I'm saying is take a chance...like you took a chance on me, I guess."

His eyes softened a bit as he held onto the edge of the towel wrapped around your shoulders, the gears turning in his head as he processed everything. After a minute his head dropped to your shoulder, nuzzling in close under your chin once more.

"I need to think...before I answer," he finally consented, which was as good an answer as you could ask for from such a dense question.

The two of you remained on the pier for a while longer, your fingers running through his hair while one of his arms wrapped around the back of your waist to keep you close. It had been an exhaustingly long evening, so you weren't too surprised at seeing Bakugou very nearly asleep on top of you, a look of calm serenity covering him for the first time that night. As cute as the sight was, you nudged him awake and earned a bit of a growl in response.

"Bakugou, wake up. I need to go back home," you whispered against his hair before he pulled away and yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Come back tomorrow?" he asked drowsily, despite already knowing your answer.

"Always," you answered. "I'm yours, after all."

That declaration woke him up a bit as he pulled you in by the towel around your neck. "Damn right," he said without hesitation and that confident smirk of his before kissing you again. Suddenly, though, his eyes shot open and he pulled back, nearly yanking your bottom lip with him.

"What's-"

"I love you!" he blurted out, his cheeks flushed and eyes now filled with a wordless apology. "I not say it before...but I do. You my mate now, you mine."

Every ounce of cold etched in your bones immediately fled off into the night air like snow pitched away from a covered driveaway and replaced seamlessly with a flood of fiery warmth. You couldn't keep the goofy smile from your face and he couldn't help but mirror the smile. "I know, Bakugou."

"Katsuki," he stated, uncharastically shy.

"Hm? What's 'katsuki'?"

He shifty a bit but didn't take his eyes off you. "My name...but Bakugou also my name. 'Katsuki' is for mate and family only." That bit of information sent another spark of affection through you; a name only reserved for those closest to him, a name only for you. One more secret to hold dear.

"Katsuki…" you said, the syllables experimental on your lips. A tired but satisfied expression reached from his tail to his hairline as if hearing his newly-learned name equated in importance to your earlier outpouring confession. "I like it. Katsuki is a good name."

"I love you, (y/n)," he breathed, and hearing your own name in his raspy voice urged you forward to kiss him again, never wanting to forget this evening or series of moments or treasured memories.

All good things must come to an end, however temporary. You were dry enough to slip back into your clothes, and this time Katsuki's eyes glued to your movements unabashedly until you were fully clothed.

"Time for me to head home. I'll be back tomorrow, same time same place," you said, bending down to wish him a good night. The promise of returned meetings for future days to come took some sting away from the goodbye, but it was still hard. Katsuki nodded, leaning up for one last brush of lips on your own; this kiss was softer and more chaste than the rest as he learned quickly, not unlike with everything else he did.

"Tomorrow," he muttered, letting go of your intertwined fingers as you sluggishly walked to the opposite side of the pier. This would undoubtedly be a difficult road ahead, but you'd work through the obstacles together as you figured out how all of this would work. You turned around to see if Katsuki had disappeared yet, but his silhouette remained watching your retreating steps. You waved in a "see you later" gesture and saw him mimic the movement before you spun on your heel, unable to keep the grin off your face. It reminded you of the very first time you met him, a small delicate brush of exploratory fingers before you were dragged away by prying security and a subtle wave of "until we meet again" that you suspected he returned without your knowledge.

Real life for you now was far more interesting than some fairy tale, and you wouldn't have it any other way.


	16. Chapter 16

The days that followed etched by like the scrawlings of children laden down with chalk too big for their hands; some evenings passed quickly with little interruption, smooth and saturated with color, while others jumped over pebbles or were jostled by a change in direction or purpose. But without fail a picture emerged every time, situated neatly in the stack of memories. Some stuck out at odd angles like a moment pulled for a glimpse and a smile before sliding back into the pile while others sat at the bottom of the stack, still important but not significant enough to reach for with frequency.

This is how you remembered and savored your evenings with Bakugou after that first swimming lesson.

The realization of what transpired didn't really hit you until you got home, Pearl meeting you happily and eagerly at the door while your cat lazed around on the kitchen counter. Your clothes were still damp and smelled heavily of salt and seaweed, so you tossed them into the washing machine and hopped into a warm shower, letting the water rinse off any goosebumps still lingering on your skin. Swimming for so long had left you exhausted, and you were positive your legs would be sore tomorrow from the unusual amount of exercise. That, coupled with the fact you'd accidentally skipped dinner with the rush of excitement and nerves made your stomach echo in your kitchen as you rummaged around for left-overs and hot tea now that you were warm and clean. As the microwave hummed in the otherwise silent apartment, Katsuki's words finally rang back in your head with surprising clarity.

"I love you…" you muttered to no one, letting the words spill from your chapped lips. "Oh my god that happened, all that actually happened!"

Your hands came up to slap against your cheeks as your knees almost buckled beneath you before you leaned against the counter for a bit of stability. As if hearing the rapid beating of your heart like a whistle Pearl trotted over and looked up at you curiously; she was far smarter than you'd ever thought a dog could be. Maybe that was Katsuki's doing since he could talk to her in a very basic sense...or maybe she was just a damn smart dog who could discern when you were anxious or stressed. Either way you were grateful for her companionship.

She barked just as the microwave beeped, pulling your attention back to reality. "Right, food…" Grabbing a napkin you sandwiched it between your hand and the hot plate before walking it to the kitchen table, plopping down into the chair, and digging into the hot food. "Holy shit I'm so hungry."

You turned on the TV to let some kind of sound drone on in the background as you ate. Now that all the fresh memories of the evening with Katsuki were flooding back with the aid of food and warmth you couldn't keep the sappy smile from your face. Still, all this was extremely new and unknown territory.

"So I guess we'll just see what happens from here. Maybe it was too soon to ask him to visit his home at least one more time to settle things with everything else we talked about...but still, I dunno, he needs to move past this so he can really move forward." Letting your thoughts air aloud in your kitchen helped organize them easier than if they remained muddled around in your brain. "I won't push it, but I'll bring it up again in a week or so and see what happens. What do you think? Will he go for it?"

Pearl sat back on her haunches while staring up at you - or your plate of food, you weren't sure - with intensity. She barked as if to answer your question, and took her response as confirmation that maybe with a bit more time he wouldn't react so viscerally to the suggestion of visiting his home.

"I wonder if he'd fit in the bathtub…mmhm, probably not, his tail's too long." Glancing over at your bathroom you wondered if one day it might be possible to bring him here in the dead of night, if only to experience somewhere away from the ocean and pier for a day or two. It would be a huge risk to carry him here and risk someone catching a glimpse of someone suspicious running around, attempting to look sneaky. Could you even carry him? He was was built with lean muscle, and his tail must be heavy with how long it was so he definitely weighed more than you...maybe a wheelbarrow could work? Or a truck?

Exhaustion and an overworked brain caused you to completely miss your mouth with the next bite of food and instead smear sauce and rice all over your cheek. With a sigh you grabbed a napkin and wiped yourself clean. "I think that means it's time for sleep…" After finishing your late dinner and tossing your bathing suit and towel in the dryer you trudged through your nighttime routine until you finally fell into the familiar sheets of your bed.

Pearl climbed up and made herself comfortable at the end of the bed near your feet while your cat padded silently into your bedroom where he'd eventually make his way next to your pillow at some point during the night. Groaning you set your alarm, genuinely hating the idea of going into work tomorrow. Adjusting back into an everyday routine after agreeing to be the romantic partner of a merman would make concentrating on anything important a difficult task.

As your eyes drifted shut you thought of Katsuki, of him opening up his vulnerabilities and insecurities to you, of you accepting him as he is and setting aside differences to try and make this work to the best of your ability. You weren't sure where all of this would lead, and never in your wildest imagination pictured yourself in this kind of situation a year ago. But the two of you were in the same boat, so you wouldn't have to figure things out alone. The only detail you were certain of was the least concrete and also the most significant: the two of you were in love, and maybe that would be enough.

Work the next morning trudged by agonizingly slowly, your feet feeling as though they were trapped in drying concrete with how heavy they felt with your sore muscles. A couple of coworkers asked if you were alright, and you told a half-truth about exercising a bit too intensely the previous evening. Treading water for hours was more of a workout than you'd anticipated. As soon as the clock told you it was time to leave everything seemed to speed up when you grabbed your things and made your way through the building and out the door to wait for the bus.

When you stepped through the threshold of your apartment Pearl greeted you eagerly like she always did. It seemed more like fate rather than sheer chance that you'd found her weeks ago, dirty and hungry and starved for affection and attention on the outskirts of well-worn sidewalks and roads. You loved your cat, of course, but Pearl's energy and happiness often rubbed off on you.

"You hungry? Yeah, I know," you said as her paws tippy-tapped up and down on the cool tile of your kitchen while you fixed food for both her and your cat. As they ate you prepared your own dinner alongside Katsuki's. You had no plans to swim today, instead wanting a break to just sit on the pier and enjoy a peaceful meal together. You also wondered how the dynamic between the two of you would change with everything out in the open. Holding back physical affection shouldn't be an issue now, but any special customs specific to merpeople were out of your immediate expertise.

Pearl, who always ate her food at lightning speed, whined as you grabbed your things and walked towards the front door. "No, sorry, can't come with me today. Tomorrow, I promise." You leaned down and scratched her behind the ears before locking the door and heading down the familiar route to the pier.

It had been ages since you'd last visited the hashimaki vendor on the beach, usually referring to fix your own meals and head straight down to the pier; but today felt a bit special. The very first time you properly met Katsuki you'd exchanged some hashimaki for your phone that you'd nearly dropped into the water, and that simple trade ignited a wild and unexpected journey. Grabbing the snack that first led him to you sounded like an excellent idea.

The food vendor looked over to you after serving another customer, familiarity sparkling in his eyes. "Aha! It's been a while, hasn't it."

"Yeah, I know. I started learning how to cook and things took off after that," you said with a half-truth. Cooking and experimenting now occupied your afternoon agenda, and you'd gotten better as a result, which in turn limited the amount of cooked food you bought unless you were feeling particularly lazy. "Two hashimaki, please."

"Coming right up!" The vendor quickly got to work, hands jumping from one step to the next, years of expertise showing with his easy and memorized movements that would trip you up if attempted at the same pace.

Nodding, you thanked him and paid for the meal before walking down the beach to the pier, cool sand digging between your toes. As you closed in on the familiar wooden walkway you scanned the area to make sure no prying eyes threatened to ruin your nightly routine. There had been a few close calls in the past where Katsuki had to quickly hide and you had to bullshit up an excuse as to why you were on the pier to late by yourself. While you'd become acutely aware of your surroundings during the months coming here, it was still a calculated risk that he might be seen. To you, the reward far outweighed the danger.

The night air was cool and the waves fairly calm as the strong smell of salt and fish tickled the inside of your nose; despite coming down here countless times, you never tired of the sights and smells of the coast. Flipping off your shoes you let your feet dangle over the edge, rapping your knuckles against the wood. After a few minutes the familiar sensation of cool, wet fingers slid across the bottom of your foot making you smile.

Leaning over the edge of the pier you saw Katsuki bobbing expertly in the water, and as those crimson eyes looked up into your own you felt your heart accelerate in your chest as your smile widened. You motioned with your finger for him to come up, and without hesitation he dipped back under the water for momentum before leaping up and hooking his arms on the edge and pulling himself up effortlessly...and immediately grabbed the collar of your hoodie and pulled you to him in a kiss that tasted heavily of salt water.

The sudden gesture left you breathless and flustered, but you weren't exactly planning to complain when he pulled away smirking as if he knew exactly the type of reaction he'd get from you; but you didn't miss the tinge of pink in his cheeks, either.

"Missed you," Katsuki whispered across your skin, making you shudder. You knew he always missed you, but hearing him say it aloud was a newly inviting experience.

"I missed you, too...Katsuki," you mirrored, making sure to use the name he'd told you to call him from now on. His eyes lit up, as if he'd totally forgotten that he'd released that bit of information to you. Just for that he kissed you again, but this time you were ready for it and eagerly reciprocated.

After handing Katsuki his dinner - he enjoyed the hashimaki and sentiment behind it, of course - the two of you ate and talked, exchanging the events of the day and reminiscing briefly on the previous evening and all that it entailed. Katsuki kept noticeably closer to you, either leaning on your shoulder or keeping a hand grasped firmly around your fingers or clothing, as if you might slip away if he let go for too long.

The physical affection was new, as well. Apparently merpeople had their own customs and ways of demonstrating the love and tenderness between mates and partners. He would nuzzle up against your neck and emit that familiar purring that was usually only reserved for when you ran your fingers through his hair. At one point he brushed a particularly ticklish spot that made you laugh, and when he pulled back to look at your smile it was like he was looking into happiness made concrete.

Something nagged at the back of your mind, despite the feeling of giddiness and newfound sense of ease at no longer holding back how you truly felt. It was a sensitive topic, one that he'd reacted to badly the previous night...but you still needed to try again.

"Katsuki." He quirked his head to the side a bit to look at you from his position seated in your lap, his back against your front, and your arms wrapped securely around the cool, damp skin of his torso. "Did you think about what I asked yesterday?"

The drumming of his fingers on top of your forearm stilled as the words left your mouth. For a moment he didn't speak, but you knew he definitely heard you. "I thought about it."

"And?"

"And I not know yet. Not now." His stern expression told you to drop the subject; you didn't want to push too far, not two days in a row. If Katsuki didn't want to think about going back home for now, you weren't going to force him. Instead you pulled him closer and nuzzled against his hair similar to his own actions earlier. Eventually his muscles relaxed into the touch as the two of you lulled back into easier conversation.

The heaviness of your eyelids and the late hour displayed on your phone told you it was time to head home. The merman in your arms was nearly asleep as well, and despite how adorable he looked you pinched his cheek before he weakly slapped your hand away with a pout.

"Time for sleep, I think," you whispered through a yawn. Pearl no doubt had to go outside one last time before settling at the foot of your bed like she always did now, so you couldn't drag things out too long.

"Sleep...come back tomorrow?" he asked with a tired voice. You nodded against his soft hair.

"Always," you replied, telling him what he wanted to hear; that you'd return to him, to this spot, without fail. There was a promise between the two of you now, and breaking it wasn't even remotely on the table.

Katsuki kissed you goodnight, a sensation that still sent shivers down your spine that had little to do with the chilly late night air or the contrast of his cool hands compared to the warmth of his lips. Despite the late hour he was still eager to revel in the newness of it all, pulling you close as if to keep you safe and within reach.

"I love you, and you're mine." It was a statement filled with unwavering confidence and steadfastness, words stated as fact and nothing less.

"And I love you, and you are mine," you repeated, feeling as though echoing him was the appropriate thing to do; judging by his tired smile and the way he pressed his forehead against yours, you were proved right.

After the final goodbyes of the night rang in the ocean breeze you finally started your journey home. It was tough - tougher than you'd anticipated - to leave him behind. Maybe you could think more on a way to transport him without drawing too much attention, but your brain was too fuzzy and your eyes too bleary to think of a clear and detailed plan.

Your pets were attended to and your things put away before you crawled into bed like you did every night. Despite the bed empty of all but you and your pets, the lullaby of the memorized ocean and blurred visions of Katsuki soothed you into sleep with the promise of waking up to see him again.

Over the course of the next week you avoided asking him again about visiting his home. He'd made it clear that the idea wasn't completely abandoned, that he just needed more time to think. Confronting the faces of those he'd left behind wouldn't be an easy decision, after all.

It was on an evening full of laughter that he told you his answer.

"I've decided," Katsuki declared as he lay on top of you with your back against knotted wood, his webbed hands lazily picking at the collar of your shirt.

The sudden change in subject left you with furrowed brows. "Hm? Decided what?"

"I've decided...to go back. Back home," he said with less certainty, as if he'd rehearsed the words outside of your earshot, looping them on his tongue with false confidence.

At that your fingers trailing invisible shapes on his back stilled as your eyes trained on Katsuki. "Are you sure?"

"You ask me to decide, and I did." Katsuki hovered over you, the dark sky against his blonde hair a jarring yet beautiful contrast. "To move forward, right? The bad in the past, to focus on the good, on you."

Your hands came up to wind gingerly around his fin-like ears and cup his face in your palms. "To move forward. I don't think it'll be as bad as you assume, and when you come back, the weight will be gone. When do you plan on leaving?"

The thought of separating from you turned his expression somber. "Tomorrow."

A thin line formed on your lips at the idea that tonight would be the last night you'd see him for a while, but there was no getting around it. "How long will you be gone?"

Katsuki shrugged before flopping back down onto your chest, burying his face in the warmth of your skin. "Don't know. Home is far away. A week, maybe more." You could tell that, despite making his decision to leave and resolve his personal issues, separating from you and his routine of coming here would be difficult. The impression that mates were supposed to be accessible to one another and spend time together frequently wasn't lost on you. That's how it was with human relationships, too, but you both sacrificed normalcy in the name of making his bizarre courtship of love between you work.

"Will you be alone?" you inquired, hoping he might have at least a little support on his journey.

"Kirishima knows, moron will swim with me." You hoped his red-headed friend might help him out, and sure enough you were proven right. One friend was better than none in this situation.

"Will you be safe?"

"Always," he said, now sitting up a bit to look up at you through damp bangs with glittering ruby eyes.

"Will you return to me?"

"Always."

You hummed with contentment at his steadfast answers. "If things _do_ go badly - I don't think they will, but I can't say for sure - come back, and you won't have to return again. No one will make you. I won't make you."

A smirk graced his handsome face before he leaned forward and kissed the juncture between your jaw and neck, his breath cool and his mouth balmy in a delicious combination that you'd already grown accustomed to.

"You not make me do anything I don't want," he mouthed against your neck, making you shudder.

He could turn on his smug attitude at the drop of a pin, but you wanted to ease the last bit of tension: so you did. Digging your fingers quickly into his sides you tickled him, making him echo a deep a reverberating sound the bounced around in your chest. After finding out he was ticklish through the photo exchange you took advantage of most open opportunities, but he quickly learned your game and started tickling you back while also keeping his ticklish spots guarded. It was only during moments of sloppiness that you now managed to catch him unawares, but you took every opening you could get.

Knowing this would be your last evening together for a while the two of you savored the time together, limited though it may be by circumstance. Without thinking too much about it your thumb trailed discreetly against one of the scars on his tail, memorizing his imperfections and bringing silent comfort to the visual representations of his past. Katsuki watched as you moved, your eyes now focused on his own as you realized your gesture caused him to still. Taking it one step further you leaned forward and - barely, just barely - kissed the scar to show him you found all of him beautiful. His scales were smooth to the touch and shone brilliantly even under the cloudy moonlight overhead.

You would see him again briefly the next night before he left, but the goodbye was no less tender than you expected.

"I'll be here tomorrow to see you off safely," you said while gathering up your bag and empty food containers. "Sleep well, and dream good dreams."

He kissed you once more before pulling back; you would always get lost in those eyes of his, an absolute certainty that never failed whenever he looked at you like he was looking at you now. "I love you, and you are mine." It had become a proper goodbye at this point, so you assumed it was a mermaid custom between mates.

"I love you, and you are mine," you mimed back before bidding Katsuki a final goodnight and disappearing into the low fog settling in across the beach.

The next day you were anxious, a bottle of nerves ready to pop at the slightest provocation as you sat in your uncomfortable desk chair and thought of Katsuki's journey home. You wanted it to go well, for him to find solace and move forward without the subconscious nagging of angry faces and misplaced guilt.

The slow trudge of work didn't help keeping your mind occupied, making you immensely glad for the tick of the clock when it told you it was time to head home. Someone stopped you on the way out and asked if you were free to join them and some other coworkers for drinks later, but you declined on the grounds of already-made plans. You'd become more confident in yourself since meeting Katsuki, and as a result met some people at work that weren't complete assholes who set you up on bum dates. Maybe you could join them later this week, though. With Katsuki gone your nights were now free, at least for a little while. Maybe getting out and venturing beyond the office, your apartment, and the pier might not be so bad.

With only a day to prepare you packed some of his favorite foods, skipping a few things that would've made a better going away dinner since stopping by the store was a time waste you couldn't afford on this night in particular. If Katsuki was going to be gone for at least a week, then you wanted to send him off with something good to eat since all he'd have on the journey was his usual diet of fish with no rice, seasonings, or sauces that he'd gotten used to. Grabbing up your things you started to head for the door before Pearl barked at your heel.

"What's wrong? I already let you out. I'll be back soon," you said, bending down to scratch behind her ears. She barked again, this time more insistently, as if- oh, of course. Sometimes you could be so dense. "You want to come with me, don't you? You know he's leaving somehow, right?"

Pearl sat at your feet and barked once more as if in answer to your questions. Maybe she could sense your anxiety of the past day knowing that he would be gone and you wouldn't be there to help him through it this time...or maybe she was just a dog who missed her other owner. Probably both.

"Alright, alright, you can come," you laughed while grabbing up her leash patterned with colorful seashells and clipping it onto her collar. As soon as you opened up the door she nearly bolted past the threshold, but you managed to hold her back while you locked it behind you before being led quickly down the stairs. It was only fair that she see him off, too.

When you made it to the pier several people were sitting down at your normal spot, but luckily it didn't take long for them to pack up their own things and leave. Most people didn't want to deal with the cool air and low visibility that came with the beach at night, despite the breathtaking view of shifting, watery darkness lit only by the moon and stars. Once the strangers were gone - they stopped to pet Pearl, but who wouldn't - you walked down to the edge of the pier. Unfortunately you found food wrappers and trash left by the group that just passed, making you sigh through your nose.

"Can't people clean up their shit?" you mumbled, grabbing the garbage and stuffing it into the trash bag you kept in your pack for occasions when Katsuki would bring you something he found to discard of properly. Pearl's tapping claws on the wood echoed within the space between the murky water beneath you and old, creaky wood, and the extra noise plus a bark or two must've alerted Katsuki to your presence. A touch on your bare foot, followed by your response, told him it was safe.

"Pearl! Nice collar," Katsuki said while hopping up onto the pier next to you as the dog licked at the merman with enthusiasm. Her collar was bright orange, the same color as his tail.

"She wanted to see you off, I think. She could tell something was going to happen." Katsuki glanced at you while his hands were busy scratching the space behind Pearl's ears, making her leg thump up and down on the wood.

He just smirked as Pearl rolled over for tummy rubs. "Of course she's smart." You noticed how he avoided elaborating on him leaving. He'd wait until the last moment to say goodbye.

Instead you focused on enjoying your time together, eating and catching up and keeping the excited dog occupied. Eventually, though, you could tell his positive energy was starting to wane as he leaned against you for support, maybe mental as well as physical.

"Katsuki," you echoed into the otherwise silent evening air. He hummed in acknowledgement. "When do you need to leave?"

The answer came after a full minute of silence. "Soon...Kirishima is waiting." He gripped the sleeve of your jacket like a vice, pulling the windproof fabric taut against your arm - an anchor keeping him grounded. You buried your nose in his hair, the strong scent of salt, fish, and seaweed tickling your nostrils. They were familiar smells by now, ones that no longer bothered you and instead brought comfort along with the familiarity.

"It'll be alright," you soothed. "Even if I'm not with you, I'll be _with_ you… understand?" Your palm lay flat across his chest, in the same place you touched one week prior, the place where his heart hung strong and steady in his broad chest. "Think of me, of coming back to me if you're scared-"

"I'm not scared," he interrupted, trying to sound resolute despite the muscles tensing beneath his damp skin.

You smirked from an angle he couldn't see. "Of course you're not. Sorry." It was probably best not to put extra undue fear into his mind with the journey ahead. He took your hand from his chest and kissed your palm before turning around to look at you properly.

"I'll come back."

"I know you will."

"No dumb shark or anyone else will stand in my way." His words rang with honest courage, or about as much as he could muster while staring at you with eyes that told a silent story of apprehension.

"No, they won't." Continuing to drag things would only make it harder. "You should go...your friend's waiting, right?"

After only a week of being emotionally raw and open with each other you could tell the last thing he wanted to do was leave, but he'd come to his own decision that this was something he needed to do. And you knew he didn't back down from anything.

Katsuki lurched forward and wrapped his arms around your shoulders in a tight grip, burying his face in your neck to breathe in your scent, to memorize it, to hold it dear. He wouldn't be gone forever - just a week or so - but confronting his fears directly made the journey seem precarious. You returned the embrace as you felt his tail entwine around one of your ankles.

Pearl wanted to get in on the affection, too, and managed to squeeze between the two of you, effectively licking both of your faces at once. It was an odd little family you'd gathered up, that was for sure, but you wouldn't switch it out for anything.

Katsuki's goodbye kiss was as tender as it was breathless, lips moving far more expertly compared to one week ago sending shivers down your spine and making the hair on your arms stand up with goosebumps. He'd made it a point to practice on you whenever he got the chance, and if he didn't feel like you were flustered enough he tried again. There were no more _unintentional_ bites, at least.

A splash out in the water caught his attention and, just like the first time you'd met, a pair of red eyes nearly identical to Katsuki's poked out of the water. On reflex he growled, obviously not wanting to be rushed, but you grabbed his chin and kissed him again knowing full well his friend was watching. "I love you, and you are mine," you ghosted across his mouth.

"And I love you...and you are mine." He gave Pearl one last scratch behind the ears before whispering something to her not unlike when they met. You knew better than to ask what it was at this point.

Katsuki hung off the pier, his strong arms supporting him on the edge and his face an expression of bold tenacity. "Wait for me."

"Always. Be safe," you said with one final kiss before you watch him drop into the nearly pitch-black water below. Your heart was beating and your palms felt sweaty as you watched the surface still below you...before looking out where you saw Kirishima, and sure enough a blonde silhouette breached the surface in the same spot to look back at you one last time before disappearing once more under the gently curling waves.

"Keep him safe, Kirishima. Be there when I can't. He needs a friend like you…" you whispered into the lonely night with now only Pearl for company as you wiped away an unfallen tear that blurred your vision at the edge like rain collecting in a windowsill.

Note: this is now told from Bakugou's POV. "Katsuki" is used only by Reader at this point, so to everyone else he's still Bakugou.

"Not gonna lie, but that was pretty darn cute- ow!" Kirishima smile didn't leave his face when Bakugou punched him in the arm as they swam deeper and deeper into the murky green water.

"Shut up. I said I wouldn't be long. Can't fucking be patient, can you?" Bakugou growled out as his tail beat with rhythmic strength against the current. His lips still tasted of you despite the water filling his mouth and gills as they siphoned oxygen expertly. The journey was long, and traveling at night posed fewer risks of being spotted by adventurous divers or any other unwanted observers. It would take them two full days with rest to get back. Bakugou didn't ask about the excuse Kirishima undoubtedly made up to pardon himself of his duties; he'd offered to help when Bakugou told him what he wanted to do, and honestly it had been so long since he'd been home that if he veered off-track even a little he could wind up lost, so he grudgingly accepted Kirishima as a guide.

They'd met four days prior for their scheduled reunion to exchange update information when Bakugou told him about you accepting him as his mate. Normally he'd keep this information to himself - it wasn't anyone else's business, after all - but with literally no one else to tell besides the fish and turtles that swam in the nearby ecosystem he was nearly buzzing out of his scales to brag about having, in his words, "the best mate _ever_ , idiot."

Now they swam what was, at least for Kirishima, a familiar path back towards the home Bakugou left behind. They kept close to the seafloor since swimming in open water, especially in low visibility, wasn't exactly the smartest decision while Kirishima tried to keep conversation going. They slept during the day so they could travel through the night, taking period breaks for rest and food before they found a safe place to sleep when it was daylight again. However, the deeper they swam the more difficult it was to differentiate between night and day since sunlight could only permeate so far before it dissipated completely. It reminded Bakugou of his search for the perfect pearl-filled oyster when he lost track of time, but with Kirishima they could keep on track to their destination.

The entire journey Bakugou was on high-alert of anything following them. The worst thing that could happen would be a repeat of the incident that caused all this in the first place, so he kept his head on a vigilant swivel and his ears wide open for predators that might find them appetizing.

Eat, rest, swim. Eat, rest, swim. The journey felt longer than he anticipated, and after at least a day and a half had passed the anxiety of drawing closer and closer to his now-abandoned home bubbled up once more inside Bakugou. He was also unexpectedly tired; his time spent closer to shore rather than swimming long distances in deeper water had slowed his stamina, causing them to rest more than he wanted. Bakugou had speed, but now Kirishima carried more endurance. He'd work on correcting that when he got back.

"I'm fine, keep going," Bakugou insisted multiple times despite the muscles in his strong tale aching from hours and hours of constant use. Kirishima indulged his stubborn friend at first, but eventually forced Bakugou to rest by sheer force of annoying him into submission.

Bakugou also missed your cooking. Raw fish still made up a majority of his diet, but he'd grown used to the seasonings and extra toppings that accompanied human food. Kirishima occasionally bugged him about bringing some more for him to try, but a "find your own food source!" shut him up until he asked again next time.

Eventually familiar flora started popping up and Kirishima had them slow down, the muscles in Bakugou's arms and neck tensing on reflex. "We're getting close...what's your plan?"

Bakugou grunted, his fists clenched tightly as his claws dug into the calloused skin on his palms. "Yeah, I got a plan. Don't worry about it."

"Uh, well, what is it? Should I just wait here for you or-"

"If I'm not back within an hour, come and find me," Bakugou interrupted. There was no going back now; he'd come too far and left too much behind not to face whatever lay ahead. Without another moment of hesitation he swam forward, the path now recognizable that led towards the city of merpeople hidden within a large underwater cave system, far too deep for any normal diver to wander into by accident. Even if someone did come across it, they had measures of dealing with situations that threatened the colony.

Bioluminescent plants littered the walls, giving light where none would normally shine. Hues of lavender, magenta, and aqua patterned themselves across man-made (or mer-made) buildings, planted in appealing ways that lit the way through every node within the city. Massive underwater mushrooms grew up from the cave floor like street lamps, their tops like jellyfish swaying with the current. It was exactly how he left it - beautiful and mysterious to anyone who'd never seen it before, but ordinary and mundane to those who made it their home - and for a moment it seemed like no time passed at all between his leaving and his return, that this whole ordeal had been a dream, that he'd escaped only to be forced back to face his own self-inflicted shame, that-

"Bakugou-kid?"

A voice behind him made Bakugou turn around quickly, bubbles lifting towards the ceiling with the swish of his tail as he was jarred from his thoughts. The figure before him was...recognizable, but different. His blond hair hung limply around his face, which was horribly haunt and angular with deep-set eyes. A body of lean muscle, definitely a bit on the skinny side- wound down into a pattern of spotted greys and ended in a vertical fin. Bakugou knew who this was, he would recognize the tail and those startling cyan eyes anywhere...but it _couldn't_ be him, right? His body was different, he was so much smaller than he should be. Where were his muscles? His endless confidence? His smile that set all those around him at ease? And there was one more noticeable addition, one that made Bakugou's insides twist as if wrapped in constricting seaweed.

A large scar took up a large portion of the left side of his torso, rigged and horrible-looking. That had to be from-

"Hey, kid. It's alright, didn't mean to scare you. I know who you are," the man said, and again his voice gave away exactly who he was, even if it didn't have the same powerful cadence it once held.

"All Might?" Bakugou asked in a voice far too shaky for his liking. "You're…I did this."

All Might moved forward slowly, as if creeping up on a cornered animal ready to flee. "No, no you're wrong. You fled so quickly after the incident that I didn't have a chance to talk to you. No one could find you, not even that red-haired friend of yours. But you're here, and you have to hear it from me. What happened was not your fault."

Bakugou was too frozen to move away as All Might continued closing the distance between them. "I was a coward. I was weak," was all he could manage as he backed up against the cave wall. "And now you're _this_." He wasn't supposed to face this so soon. He was going to grab some things from his home, deal with his parents and people with invasive questions, and _then_ he'd find All Might on his own terms. But things never worked out exactly as planned, did they?

"You're strong, and you have so much potential," All Might said, now close enough to place a hand on Bakugou's scaled shoulder. Even with his diminished stature All Might created an imposing silhouette. "I was sick before all this happened...but I didn't tell anyone. The work of a Hero doesn't stop, and our people depended on me to be the face of victory. The Symbol of Peace. The incident was _not_ your fault. I was hurt the most, and my life is inconsequential compared to the lives of those I protect; that heroes protect."

The long-winded speech wasn't something Bakugou expected; no, he hadn't expected this kind of reaction at all. A scolding, a punishment seemed far more predictable than the exchange currently happening in one of the shadowy entrances to the city.

Forgiveness hadn't been on his radar at all.

Before he could respond Bakugou was pulled into All Might's chest, a secure and comforting hold. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you felt the need to escape from a responsibility that wasn't yours to bear. You're strong, Bakugou kid...never forget that."

For a brief moment he let himself succumb to the luxury of being pardoned by All Might, but then Bakugou swatted the hands away from him, gaining back his courage and remembering who he truly was.

"I know, All Might. That's why I came back, to make shit right. I'll get stronger, so strong that no one will get hurt again if I'm around," he grit out while meeting All Might's blue eyes with his own crimson pair. The Hero seemed to accept his response, nodding before backing away and giving him a bit of space. Bakugou thought of you as the words left his mouth. He thought of your confidence in him, of the support you provided when he had no one. He thought of going back to you with the certainty that he'd no longer be plagued with nightmares and a fear of rejection. He thought of you, and that gave him strength.

"I can see that. You've been away a long time, far longer than anyone thought you'd be gone. So I have to ask, where have you been?" All Might inquired. It was a valid question, but it was also and intimately personal one that he didn't want to delve too far into.

"Far away, closer to where humans live. And yeah, I know that's dangerous. But I learned my damn lesson about that the hard way." Everyone, including you, knew humans were a threat. That's why you were so careful to make sure no one ever saw him, always going out of your way to protect this small slice of happiness the two of you now shared.

All Might's eyes glanced down briefly to the bracelet around his wrist, and when Bakugou noticed he slid his hand behind his back and away from view, but All Might's small smile made his cheeks glow with the knowledge that his hero, his idol, now knew he'd found a mate somewhere far away from here. Luckily he wasn't so inquisitive as to break down all boundaries at once.

"I assume you can't stay." Bakugou's silence gave All Might his answer, so he continued. "But you should at least say hello to your parents, tell them you're alright. You have friends that were worried about you as well. And despite what you may think, most everyone understood after I spoke to the city after the incident."

"Most, huh?" All Might's mouth slimmed down into a tight line of disappointment.

"Mmhm, there are still a few who harbor resentment, despite my best efforts to tell them otherwise. Even though I can't protect like I used to, many others stepped up to the burden. I think the city is safer now than it's ever been," he said. The hand behind Bakugou's back clenched. After fleeing, others took up the mantle of hero, even if they weren't ready. He could have done the same, could have stepped up...but he can't change the past, and now there was someone new he had to protect. It was his job to keep his mate safe, that was the responsibility he bore now - a promise he would never break.

"So? What do you say?" All Might quirked his head towards the glowing city, signaling for Bakugou to finally make amends the ones he left behind.

He was ready, but he wasn't one to follow behind others, so instead Bakugou led the way with All Might in tow. It wasn't long before his unanticipated reappearance started turning heads and causing whispers as he swam towards his family home. Although he had no siblings, the home he grew up in was fairly large and situated in an area with easy access to most of the amenities the city offered. It wasn't until he was at the threshold of the structure that he started feeling his nerves come back. His dad he could handle, a pushover really. His mom? Well, they were far more alike than Bakugou would ever openly admit to.

A comforting hand wrapped around his shoulder in a silent "it's alright, for I am here." Bakugou huffed through his nose, a stream of bubbles following before floating up to the surface, and knocked.

The distinct, familiar yelling inside made Bakugou brace for whatever awaited him when that door opened.

"...Masaru, get the door! Ugh, fine, I'll get it-" A mermaid with hair almost exactly like Bakugou's opened the door, red eyes resting squarely on the figure of All Might first...before drifting down to look into the eyes of her son whom she hadn't seen or heard from in months.

Mitsuki Bakugou was nearly the spitting image of her son. Her own tail was a deep orange speckled in with gold and white scales, but her fins, rather than dipped in an inky black, faded into a sparkling lavender. She adorned herself in layers of jewelry from her neck down to her wrists, handmade beads and glass of every color mixed in with a string of pearls sitting neatly on her collar bones. Mitsuki was the head of the household, and dressing the part was just as important to her as executing it.

"Ah, hello! I ran into your boy and-" He was interrupted as the mermaid roughly smacked Bakugou on the back of the head.

"You moron! How long have you been gone?! Don't visit your mother at all, run off to who-knows-where and now you're dragged home by All Might! You brat!"

Bakugou rounded on his mother with a face contorted in frustration at the welcome he knew he'd get. "Old hag! Maybe I needed some time away from this dump!"

All Might watched the display awkwardly as Bakugou and his mother duked it out right in front of their home. Eventually a merman who All Might assumed to be Bakugou's father - a man with brown hair and glasses made from clear, polished seaglass and coral - invited them all inside with a much calmer attitude than his wife and son. Masaru's tail was more plain than his wife's, a mix of desaturated orange mixed with black.

"Can't believe this kid...where the hell have you been this whole time?" Despite her biting tone Bakugou could see a glint of actual concern behind his mother's eyes. Of course she'd been worried about her only child. He'd secretly been hoping for a warmer welcome, but "warm" wasn't really a word that properly described his mother. They'd always had a rough relationship, and now that he was older and a bit wiser he realized that remaining here might just hold him back from his true potential. The support his parents gave differed greatly from the support of you, his mate, and that gap between them grew wider now that he was back home listening to his mother's frustrated anger.

"Far away from here, near where the humans live," Bakugou muttered while taking in the surroundings and re-familiarizing himself with his childhood home. Most everything was the same, with a few minor exceptions such as new decorations scattered about, or furniture shifted to create a more open space in the main living area. Where he really wanted to go was his room; there was something in there he had to get before leaving. No exceptions.

"Humans?" Masaru said with raised eyebrows as he prepared a snack for All Might, who hovered nearby. "Katsuki that's dangerous."

"And everything else I've done isn't?" he bit out in response. "I know the risks, I've kept myself safe." _You_ helped keep him safe, too, but he'd only bring that up if-

"What in the hell is that?" Mitsuki swam forward and grabbed his wrist, holding it up to the light of a glowing mushroom for her to properly look at the bracelet floating on his skin. "Is this...Katsuki, did you get a mate while you were away?"

This was not something he wanted to talk about now, or ever, really. Not that he was ashamed of being with you, but the drama caused by choosing a human for a mate would surely give him a headache. Bakugou yanked his arm out of his mother's grip, eyes darting briefly to All Might who looked a bit apologetic. "So what if I did?"

His mother scoffed. "No wonder you've been away so long. Found someone new to keep you in line, huh? Well, you don't look much worse for wear," he said while eying the scars on his tail, "and if they can beat some sense into you and actually agreed to stick around then I can't complain much."

The unexpected acceptance caught him off-guard. Maybe he could play off that you were another merperson that just happened to live far away rather than tell them you were a human...at least for now, anyway. His father clapped him on the back and brought him into a hug which Bakugou found unexpectedly comforting.

"Katsuki, we're just glad you're home and safe. When you left we went out searching for you and were so worried that something happened...but eventually that odd friend of yours? Kirishima? He found you and gave us a few small updates and told us you were alright, but wouldn't reveal more than that. We're just glad you're here, Katsuki." His mother came over and scrubbed her claws through his hair, echoing his father's words in her own subdued way. It was here that his dam broke, that the boy who'd grown into a man felt once again like a boy being enveloped by his parents. And he cried, and did not hide it. All Might smiled softly at the scene while standing off to the side so as not to disturb the moment.

He didn't let his emotions overcome him for long, however, and wiped his tears before pulling away from his mom and dad. "Get off you weirdos," he said, but the words had no bite to them.

"So, kiddo, how long ya staying?" Mitsuki asked while pulling on his fin-like ear. Even though he was an adult, his hag of a mom would always treat him like a kid no doubt, or maybe that was just a commonality between all parents. "And when do we meet this mate of yours? If they put up with you then you better treat 'em with some damn courtesy!"

"Let go!" he yelled while attempting to yank away his mother's grip with little success. "Just a few days then I gotta get back. And you'll meet them when I want you to!" Although they could see no sunlight from this depth, merpeople had developed ways to tell time and differentiate between seasons by following the flow of currents and measuring small temperature shifts.

Honestly Bakugou had no desire to let you meet his family; if he could keep them separate, that would be far preferable to hearing them complain about how dangerous or reckless it was, or how they wouldn't approve of his relationship. It wasn't really any of their business, anyway. Once a merperson chose a mate, they started a new life providing for and taking care of their new family, though it was usually custom for the parents of each individual to at least meet them at some point. But you obviously couldn't come down here, and his parents would be hard-pressed to swim the long journey towards shore.

"I'm sure that whoever young Bakugou has chosen treats him well. Maybe they even influenced his decision to come back," All Might spoke up for the first time in a while with a curiously knowing glint towards Bakugou. The gaze of his parents shifted between All Might and their son, but didn't want to question or inquire too much from the former hero lest they be considered rude. Even his mother knew when to keep her trap shut, sometimes.

"Alright, enough chit-chat! Masaru, get started on a feast. Even if you swim away from us again I'm not gonna let you out of my sight for the rest of the night, brat." Mitsuki wrapped a surprisingly strong arm around Bakugou's neck, effectively pinning him in a headlock which, try as he might, he couldn't escape.

They insisted that All Might stay for dinner, and eventually Kirishima came knocking as well since Bakugou didn't return to their meeting spot. Dinner was boisterous, a familiar affair in his home that he honestly missed on those nights that felt particularly solitary and quiet, laying alone in the sand with only the fish that made the nearby coral their home for company. He wondered if there was a way he could be wherever you slept...maybe he could bring it up at some point and you could figure out a way to transport him to your home, even for just a few days? There was a lot he needed to tell you when he got back, so that point was added to his mental list.

After making it through dinner his parents ushered Kirishima and All might out, the two of them waving goodbye as Mitsuki closed the door.

"Go to bed." Bakugou's mouth hung open at his mother's demand. He was exhausted from the long journey, sure, and sleeping in his old bed sounded decently comfortable, yes, but he'd always put up a fight with her demanding tone. He'd inherited more than her good looks.

"What?! Don't tell me what to do, you old hag," he argued while his father tried to calm things down between them once more. But she practically shoved him up to the second story of their home - no need for stairs when everyone could swim - and slammed his bedroom door with him inside. He knew she'd probably be watching to make sure he didn't steal away into the night, so it was useless to think about escaping.

His room was exactly as he'd left it, from what he could remember. His bed, a large off-white shell carved out to leave a convex indent in the middle was littered with soft, durable mushrooms used as pillows. Glowing mushrooms and spores grew on the corners of the room, giving it enough light to see It was sparsely decorated with a couple of sculpted pieces of furniture used to hold various personal items and trinkets. Most of these weren't essential, things he could live without.

Bakugou swam over to one of the makeshift cabinets and dug through a drawer that hadn't been opened in many years. Buried behind various ceremonial garments and jewelry sat a small, intricately carved box. It measured no longer than from his wrist to the tip of his fingers, excluding the claws, and was decorated with engravings of merpeople and embedded seaglass of various colors and silhouettes. It was a box given to every merperson when they were young, a box to keep and hold onto until a mate accepted their offer, or they accepted the offer of another. From what he understood humans didn't have this same custom, at least not around your location. The books you read him and the stories you told of faraway land masses made him assume other human colonies might have different rituals or languages. But this box was his, and as he pulled it free from the drawer the weight in his hands felt heavier than expected, like the expectations that he'd placed on himself hid themselves neatly within this unopened box.

As exhaustion finally caught up to him Bakugou sunk down into his bed, and for the first time since leaving this place his heart and mind were unusually clear, free of guilt and the internal ache of self-inflicted displacement from the only thing he'd ever known. All Might forgave him, and that resolution gave him clarity while the box nestled in his arms and thoughts of you brought him back down, but not to a place of burden; no, this weight he could handle, and he would do so gladly with a confident smile of victory.

The next day was spent re-familiarizing himself with everything with All Might's insistence that the merfolk within the colony see him and recognize his return. Word traveled quickly from the previous evening, it seemed. He expected stares and whispered points from afar, but instead was greeted by welcoming words and claps on the back. Just like All Might said, a majority of the population forgave him and understood that the incident was a lesson to be learned from, and that was that. A small number of merfolk kept their distance, however, eyes sharp and suspicious of his unannounced arrival. But All Might accompanied him through the city, and his presence kept any rude spectators at bay. Bakugou would never openly admit to appreciating everything All Might was doing, so he didn't protest too much at the suggestion.

There was someone who Bakugou had a very strong opinion on seeing, however. And that was-

"Kacchan!" A springy voice bobbed in from somewhere off to his right, and crimson eyes cut quickly to the source of the noise. Bakugou knew the voice well, and his mouth turned into a scowl almost immediately as a poof of dark green hair and the blur of a green and red tail skidded to a stop before him.

"Deku," Bakugou grit out to the figure standing before him. Deku looked exactly the same, too. It was like hardly anything had changed - All Might being the main exception - since he'd been away. His bright demeanor and dedication to annoying the literal fuck out of Bakugou without even trying made his stomach churn. All Might chose Deku to be his successor, to inherit the obligation of keeping the city and its citizens safe.

Ever since he was a child Bakugou looked up to All Might, the way his boundless confidence set everyone at ease with that toothy grin seeping of success and hard work. Deku was a part of the All Might fanclub, too, much to Bakugou's chagrin. He followed the blonde merman around like a guppy looking for a leader to follow, and Bakugou filled that role perfectly. Being in front, being at the top, being the strongest and the fastest? Those were Bakugou's goals, and he wasn't going to accept help from anyone, he'd win and succeed on his own merit; but of course _Deku_ would offer a hand if he fell, or would comment on his technique, or just do anything that made Bakugou feel like he was being looked down on like he was weak.

Then All Might picked that green-haired moron to be his successor as he started getting older, not Bakugou, and that shattered his dream like a dropped shell. It just meant he had to work harder, to swim faster, to explore further...in order to find some kind of purpose outside of trying to be exactly like someone else. Bakugou was his own person, and now he had his own life separate from All Might, Deku, his parents, and the whole rest of the city. He'd gone farther than any of them, and found where he belonged in the process. Coming back here was a reminder of what he left behind. Deku could be in All Might's shadow, but Bakugou bathe in the warmth of the sun and the reflection of the moon. He'd make his own light without their help.

"We heard you were back yesterday but didn't see you and we figured you might be visiting your family and-" Deku was suddenly shoved aside by a merman with bright yellow hair and a tail to match.

"Bakugou! You're not dead!" Kaminari tried to tackle him but Bakugou shoved a hand in his face to keep his friend at bay.

"Don't touch me, moron!" A long pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind as he felt himself slowly being crushed. "The hell?! Let go!"

The familiar laugh of Sero rang in his ears. "Nah. You've been gone too long so you have to put up with at least a few minutes of affection." Bakugou struggled against Sero's grip like a cat not wanting to be held. All Might looked on with a small smile as Midoriya swam next to him, catching up on the events of the past day without getting too far into personal details.

"You explained everything to him, then?" Midoriya asked in a whispered tone to his mentor. All might gave a slight nod.

"Yes, and he accepted it far better than I'd anticipated. I think that, wherever he's been, has been a benefit to his mental state and helping him come to terms with things," he answered. "Outside influences and new perspectives aren't always a bad thing. Sometimes I feel we're so sheltered here there may be others who can provide a more open-minded understanding of certain situations. Our homogenous city might feel stifling for someone like Bakugou who works so hard for everything he wants."

Midoriya hummed at All Might's musings on his childhood friend. "Kacchan is complicated, always has been. There are a lot of different ways someone can flourish, and for a long time I think he saw you, All Might, as the epitome of success. But whatever he went through after leaving, and whoever he met along the way, has shown him that winning and protecting doesn't just have to happen here. He's a natural leader, he would've been so great at protecting the merpeople here… but I think he has something bigger to protect now." Memories flooded with nostalgia of their childhood flooded Midoriya as he thought back to when he used to follow behind the trail of bubbles left behind as he swam. Now they were on different, but no less important, paths. No doubt Bakugou has experienced things and has gained knowledge Midoriya never will. Dreams, even unexpected ones, can't be achieved without some form of sacrifice.

Soon enough a group was gathered around Bakugou of other merpeople who went into a similar training regimen to help protect the city. Some, like Shouji and Tsuyu, had sharp eyes and senses and used their abilities to keep watch around the perimeter for curious predators or human technology that veered a little too close for comfort. Others trained physically, honing their muscles and physique to ward off anything that got past the first line of defenses. Finally, some figured out that hero work wasn't really what suited them best, and those like Ashido, Yaoyorozu, and Sato went off into their own personal endeavors like dancing or food preparation.

"Everyone was so worried!," Ashido screeched behind Tsuyu.

Bakugou just scoffed at their lack of confidence in his own survival skills. "Tch, why? I can take care of myself just fine on my own."

"Doesn't diminish the fact that, until Kirishima found you, lots of us thought you'd gotten lost or something," Ochaco chimed in while Bakugou growled.

"Lost?! I never get lost!"

"Oh my GOSH is that what I think it is?!" With Bakugou's arms flailing around trying to escape the onslaught of encroaching hugs and plutonic touches, Ashido noticed the bracelet on his wrist. Swimming forward she grabbed his arm and held it up for everyone to see, much to his embarrassed horror. "Did you get a mate while you were away?! You sneaky thing!"

"T-that's none of your damn business!" he argued, but now everyone's attention sat squarely on his bracelet. Kirishima finally managed to wrangle Bakugou away from Sero knowing he wasn't exactly partial to a lot of close physical contact or intimate prying.

Everyone in the group gained a sly, curious expression which made Bakugou's ears burn. "You mean to tell me Bakugou got a mate before me?! Agh!" Kaminari ran his hands down his face in despair while Sero gave him a pat on the back and several others rolled their eyes at his dramatics.

"The hell is that supposed to mean? I'm likeable!" The antics were familiar to him, and proved that coming back here wasn't nearly as dreadful a decision as he'd originally anticipated. Despite everyone's prying questions about his mate, Bakugou kept his lips sealed on where you were, how you met, and the distinct fact that you were human.

Eventually he broke away from the group and made his way to the other side of the square. "Deku," Bakugou called as he swam closer. His ruby eyes looked up at All Might, and the older merman understood, placing a hand on his shoulder before swimming away to let them have a conversation in private.

They squared up evenly, Deku holding his ground against Bakugou, each waiting for the other to speak first. They were rivals before he left, and even though Bakugou knew All Might had already chosen his successor, he kept going and kept improving. Despite not longer living within the city, Bakugou never felt more at ease with himself than he did right now. "You better get strong, hear me? If you slack up, I'll come back to take your place and show 'em what a real hero can do."

Emerald eyes widened a fraction before hardening into a challenging stare. "I know you will. I'll become worthy of All Might's place. Wait and see!" His hand came up into a fist of triumph, but Bakugou scoffed at the ridiculousness of it all. A year ago he wouldn't have dreamed of this outcome, of challenging his rival to succeed while he was away.

"Nerd, don't say it just do it!"

The bickering wore on until Kirishima pulled him aside. "Hey man, when you wanna leave? Not rushing or anything but-"

"Tonight. Don't wanna waste any more time here."

"I wouldn't really say it's wasted...does this mean you'll come back at some point?" Kirishima asked with furrowed brows. Bakugou glanced over his shoulder at the crowd he could now call friends, and thought it might not kill him to see them again at some point.

"Yeah...eventually. I have other places to be now, though." With that Bakugou made his way back to his family home to pack up anything he wanted to take with him. Despite her nagging that he was leaving too soon, his mom loaded him down with some prepared food his dad cooked earlier for the journey. Begrudgingly taking the sack made of hearty seaweed - he'd never openly admit to appreciating the gesture - Bakugou went back to his room to grab the small box he knew couldn't be left behind.

The bag would slow him down on his way back towards the shore, which meant he was right to overestimate how long he'd be gone, but with enough determined swimming he'd make it back within a week like he promised.

As he made his way back towards his parents waiting below, Bakugou considered the vastly different circumstances between leaving the first time and leaving now. His fears had dissipated and his confidence was restored, and rather than swimming aimlessly and leaving something behind, there was now someone waiting for him, someone he couldn't disappoint.

"Katsuki," his mother called, making him wince on reflex while expecting a blow to the head. But it didn't come. "Be safe, and don't do anything stupid. You better not wait so damn long next time to come back, brat."

He scoffed as his dad attempted to ruffle his hair before being pushed away with no real effort behind it. "I'll come back when I'm good and ready, old hag."

"What'd you call me?!"

"You heard me!"

"Please, calm down you two.."

A knock at the door brought them out of their bickering as Masaru opened it, revealing All Might.

"Ah, hello. I was wondering if I could escort Bakugou back towards the edge of the city," the merman with the gaunt face and whale shark-like tail explained at the threshold of their home.

Bakugou felt a distinct slap in the back of his head, making him growl and grit his teeth. "Yeah, go ahead. Make sure he doesn't get into trouble."

"Yeah, yeah, fine." With that he waved his parents off with a flick of his free wrist, his mom and dad watching as All Might swam beside their son until they disappeared from sight.

Silence accompanied the two of them as they swam towards the same entrance Bakugou appeared from. Kirishima was already there waiting, his red hair unmistakeable against the dimly-lit area just out of reach of the glowing mushrooms farther in.

"Bakugou," All Might started as he slowed down, prompting the blonde merman to do the same. "I think you already know this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm proud of you, for everything you've accomplished. You've done so much, more than most merpeople here will ever do. Never stop fighting for your dreams." A webbed hand came up between them, and Bakugou took it with little hesitation in a sign of mutual respect for one another.

"As if I'd do anything less," he replied with a grin. "Thanks...for...ya know…" Sheepishness crept up since words of appreciation were rarely within Bakugou's everyday vocabulary, but All Might pulled him in for a hug - too quick for him to pull away from - before letting him go.

"Anytime, young Bakugou. Be safe on your journey. You have a good friend in that one," he said, gesturing over to Kirishima in the distance. "Keep him close."

Kirishima noticed the two of him looking his way, so he waved while Bakugou groaned. "He bugs the hell outta me half the time, but yeah he's not so bad I guess. Also," he continued, eyes hardening. "Don't let Deku half-ass his duties. I'll know."

"Of course." With that final exchange of words Bakugou bid goodbye to the city and All Might, swimming towards then right past Kirishima.

"Hey! Wait up!"

"I'm not slowing down this time so keep up!" Bakugou yelled over his shoulder as Kirishima sped after him.

They swam through the night, following the same route as before with Bakugou memorizing landmarks so that he wouldn't need Kirishima the next time he decided to come back. Just the idea of willingly coming back made Bakugou's head spin, but he'd focus on that idea some other time. Rather than swimming the whole way, they stopped at their usual meeting spot and decided to separate there.

"You gonna be alright?" Kirishima asked as they slowed down, gills tired from siphoning oxygen from the water as quickly as they took it in, and the muscles in their tails tired from little rest.

Bakugou stared at him like he was crazy to ask such a stupid question. "No shit. I'm better now than I've ever been. Better get back before that half-n-half bastard gets pissed when you don't show up to take over his shift."

Kirishima shook his head, mouth quivering before he brought Bakugou into a crushing hug. He'd dealt with far too many hugs today and was pretty much _done_ with physical contact from anyone that wasn't you.

"I'm gonna miss you, man!" Kirishima sniffled into Bakugou's shoulder before the blonde managed to pull himself away.

"Idiot, I'm not leaving for good! Unless you're sick of my shit we're keeping our meetings, got it?" The merman with the bright red tail wiped at his face to compose himself before looking at his friend with that stupid friendly face that no one could resist.

"I know, I know...it's just a lot's happened in the past couple of days, feels like longer than it was. But you have a mate to get back to, yeah? Oh! When can I visit again for food? Oh it was so good-"

"You'll have to eat it before I do. And find your own mate to cook for you, huh?!" Bakugou interrupted before swimming off towards human civilization, the path now familiar and littered with milestones he knew by heart. Kirishima stared after him, silently wishing him luck before heading back on his own journey home.

Despite being exhausted and incredibly sore from overworking his muscles yet again, Bakugou sped through the water, the seaweed sack trailing over his shoulder. He needed to see you, to tell you everything that happened, to thank you for encouraging him to face his stupid fears. Eventually he knew he was close enough to shore for sunlight to brighten the sand and rock formations beneath him, but everything sat under a dim blue telling him that it must be night.

When he made it back to the cave that he called "home" he dropped the sack - now mostly empty from he and Kirishima eating the contents, though a few morsels remained for later - but not before taking out the delicately carved box and swimming as fast as he could towards the pier.

"Please still be there...don't wanna fucking wait another day," he said to himself as he finally broke through the water's surface, looking around quickly to find the pier and familiar hanging lights after being disoriented from fatigue. There! The pier, now where were…"No...shit, maybe it's too-"

There, a figure highlighted just enough by the yellow glowing lights to be visible in the darkness, walking down the pier back towards the streets and man-made buildings. He couldn't tell immediately if it was you, so he ducked under quickly and swam closer before popping back up for a better look.

He'd watched you walk away from him enough times at this point to memorize the silhouette of your hair, the slope of your shoulders, the gait of your walk. It was you, it had to be. "(Y/N!)" he called out in a bold move, and when the figure turned around to find the source of the voice he saw your face highlighted by the buzzing lamps overhead.

You started running, and Bakugou started swimming until the two of you met at the end of the pier.

"Katsuki?! You're back? Shit, I was waiting and it was getting late so I figured you might not be back today," you said while leaning over the edge of the splintered wood down into the water where he hovered, looking behind you quickly to make sure no one else was around. You looked so relieved and happy to see him again that he wanted to yank you into the water with him, but knew you probably wouldn't appreciate that right now. Instead he held his hands up, the box sitting in his palms.

"Take it," he said. You looked confused but reached down as far as you could and grabbed the box, hoisting it up onto the pier before extending your hand once again for him to take, obvious to the fact he looked drained of energy.

With a bit of maneuvering you helped pull him up onto the pier where he flopped down eagerly, tail hanging limp over the pier's edge. You leaned over him with a look of concern while a gentle hand stroked his cheek in comfort. "You didn't have to swim so hard if you'd be this tired...but I'm glad you're back-"

He interrupted you with a jolt, pulling you down for a kiss that he desperately needed to feel in that moment. You were so warm and light and filled his chest with butterflies before pulling away with a smirk to look at your blushing face. "Sorry if I taste like fish."

Shaking your head you laughed. "You always taste like fish. So? What happened? Or are you too tired to tell me now?"

As much as he wanted to tell you everything, the idea of spending hours recalling the story of the past several days made him groan. "Tomorrow. The box," he said, pointing over to where you sat it down. Understanding, you picked it up and sat next to Katsuki who still lay prone on the hard wood. Swinging your legs over the side you placed his head on your thigh, not caring if your pants got wet from his hair and skin. You made a good pillow.

"Open it." You examined the details of the box, running your fingers over the carved sea glass and shells and merperson silhouettes.

"What is it?"

"Open it first," he sighed, making himself more comfortable on your legs as he watched you carefully pry it open.

Your mouth hung open and eyes went wide at the contents, making Katski smirk in satisfaction. Without a word he knew you liked it, but he never doubted you would. "Katsuki...what is all this?"

Delicately you pulled out several of the contents: strings of jewelry and adornments like you'd never seen before filled the box. Pearls, polished stones, coral, glass, handmade beads, and many other types of decorations wove between your fingers and you looked between Katsuki and the box like a deer caught in headlights.

"These chests are kept when we're small, until we find a mate. It's yours, my gift to you." He could see your eyes welling up with tears, but he reached up and wiped them away before they could fall; there was a difference between tears of sadness and tears of happiness, and he could tell you weren't upset at the gift.

"I can't...this is so much! My bracelet feels really small and shitty compared to this…" you said, replacing the contents carefully before closing the lid to focus your full attention on him.

"Shut up, bracelet is good. You made it," he said with a tired sigh, fingering the weft of the pattern for emphasis. "I love you, and you're mine."

You sniffled, cupping your hand on top of his placed on your cheek. "I love you, and you're mine. I missed you, Katsuki. I'm guessing things went well? You said you'd explain tomorrow...but just say 'no' or 'yes' to if the journey was worth it."

He hummed while looking up at you, the hazy yellow light from the bulbs overhead mixing with the deep, inky black sky speckled with stars that became more visible the farther out to sea they drifted. Here with you now was where he was supposed to be, where he was destined to be. "Yeah," he said, eyes starting to close with the weary heaviness brought on by days of exerted effort with little rest. "It was."

"I'm glad," you whispered as he started to drift off to the quiet hum of your voice that danced with the waves beating against the columns of the pier like a siren's song. "Rest for a moment...you're home, now."

The beating of your heart echoed in his ears as comfort enveloped him, your fingers weaving softly into his hair like a breeze. The solitude that weighed him down like an anchor had lifted at last, a cumbersome regret now lost in the wind like a gust caught under the wing of a soaring seagull, lifting it higher and higher until it disappeared from view. He struggled no more and instead eased into your touch and voice as sleep enveloped him.

There would be no more nightmares. No more screams, no more ink, no more bitterness. He'd worked so hard to be strong, to overcome, to conquer. And he succeeded. Bakugou didn't win you, for you were not a prize to be won. Instead he gained a new opportunity, a new chance to triumph, and it led him to you, to a place called 'home."

 _An overflow of contentment_

 _of something budding from below_

 _a flower in the open sea_

 _petals drifting in the flow_

 _the sun has set across the line_

 _though orange can still be seen_

 _it shifts and sinks, a dancing blaze_

 _a fire in the spectral green_

 _and in the vastness of the blue_

 _a spark inside my heart_

 _a warm embrace, from me to you_

 _Eyes of red to bridge the gap whenever we must part_

 _you are, to me, an overflow_

 _of everything profound_

 _to push away the loneliness_

 _and emptiness abound_

 _shapeless on the water's edge_

 _melding seamless as you go_

 _it fills my chest to the brim_

 _as I breathe in the taste of 'home'_


End file.
